Matthias Alfen (born in 1965 in Aschaffenberg, Germany) grew up in an artistic family. His grandfather was a painter and photographer, and when his father took over the family photography business, Matthias often accompanied him on shoots; looking through the lens of his father’s camera he became interested in the creative process. At the age of eighteen, his interest in sculpture led him to a two-year apprenticeship at the Master School for Stonemasonry in Aschaffenburg. After this, Alfen earned a Masters of Fine Arts in painting and sculpture from the Berlin Art Academy. While he was still a student, the Federal German Republic purchased one of Alfen’s works for their permanent collection. After graduating, Alfen became the artist-in-residence of the city of Soest where he won a commission to design a fountain for their main square. Upon being awarded a Krasner/Pollock grant Alfen moved to the United States. He has had a solo show at the Housatonic Museum of Art. The noted art critic Donald Kuspit has referred to Alfen’s work as “a major contribution to-a brilliant extension of ‘the art of the scream’”.
Matthias Alfen’s work often plays with the human understanding of time as space, freely moving from geometrical formalism to Giacometti's Surrealism and Boccioni's Futurism. He mixes his deep understanding of human anatomy and kinesiology with a surrealist’s taste for contradiction and overstatement in witty figures designed to both confuse and compel. Alfen’s surrealism is based in the human shape, manipulating scale and form in order to create shapes in space of disconcerting, sometimes primitive, power. With his sculptures, Alfen captures something that lies beyond the surface and the mere physical.
Matthias Alfen has had over thirty exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at: Galerie Noe, (Berlin, Germany); Galerie of the City of Soest (Stadtgalerie, Germany); Galerie Clasing, (Münster, Germany); Galerie Bremer, (Berlin, Germany); Neue Kunst Galerie, (Ried, Germany); Housatonic Museum of Art, (Bridgeport, Connecticut); and Shchukin Gallery, (New York, NY). His artworks have also been included in group exhibitions at Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung, (Berlin, Germany); Artspace, (New Haven, Connecticut); Nardin Gallery, (New York, New York); University of New Haven, (Connecticut); Garth Clark Gallery, (New York, New York); John Elder Gallery, (New York, New York); Chesterwood Estate and Museum, (Stockbridge, MA); Salon d’Art, (Saint-Germain en Laye, France). Additionally, Matthias Alfen has received art commissions from the German Federal Government; Hypo-Vereinsbank, (New York); Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, (New York); amd has received several awards, including the Jackson Pollock-Lee Krasner Grant.
(Award) Artist Fellowship, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, USA.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
Contemporary Sculpture Show, Chesterwood Estate and Museum, Stockbridge, MA, USA.
Annual Show, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT, USA.
“Focus on Sculpture”, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, USA
(Art Commission) Awarded First Prize, Barmer Berbahntrasse, Wuppertal, Germany.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
(Award) Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT, USA.
(Art Commission) Pedestrian Zone Project (Fountain), Soest, Germany.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
(Art Commission) Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, New York branch, USA.
(Solo Exhibition) Sculpture Show in Hypo-Vereinsbank, New York NY, USA.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
(Art Commission) Hypo-Vereinsbank, New York, NY, USA.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Bremer, Berlin, Germany.
(Art Commission) German Federal Government Sculpture Installation, Germany.
Blue Hill Cultural Center, Pearl River, New York, NY, USA.
Art of the Northeast, New Canaan, CT, USA.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
(Solo Exhibition) Galerie Clasing, Münster, Germany.
(Award) City of Soest Artist of the Year Recipient, Westphalia, Germany
(Solo Exhibition) Drawing and Bronzes, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany.
(Solo Exhibition) Outdoor Sculptures (Freiplastik), Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany.