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Matthias Berend Bode

Biography

Berend Bode was born 1976 in Bremen germany.
He growed up in an artist family, he started oil painting when he was 6 years old.
1988 Bode won his first art award it was the international youth art award of Tokio.
He won silver for germany. This was the year of his first art exhibition in Tokio.
It was also a big motivation for him to keep on doing art.
From 1998-2004 he studied painting and sculpture at the university of the arts in Bremen.
2002 he won the Werner Kühl Art Award. One year later Bode won the BLB Bremer Landesbank Art Award for the Building Project Bremen Obernstraße.
Since 2010 he exhibited in several international exhibitions and projects, in Nyc on the Pool Art Fair, Art Space Beijing, Wuhan, Rome,Paris, and on the Pre Biennale Venice exhibition with studio Arte Carapostol.

Artist Statement

I was motivated by museums visits with my mother, my fascination about the classical artist was born in this time, for Edward Munch James Ensor, Caravaggio and Vincent Van Gogh.
My interest in political issues was aroused by history stories about my grandfather, who was per- secuted throughout the Third Reich, as a Social Democrat in resistance, and he was politically persecuted. I show in the mostly large-format oil paintings in addition to the recurring themes of humanity such as life, love, violence, death, fear, sleep, hope and happiness, including political and socially critical issues. I find my image ideas and inspirations in old films, press photos such as historical events or personalities, as well as in private family shots and stories.
Through reflections or distortions, I usually emphasize the effect of the basic motif in order to crea- te or enhance the intended image statement.
The mirror becomes a distorting mirror; the mirror does not portray it, he makes visible.The inner comes to the outside.
In many of my paintings, a deformed classic motif hovers above the main motif in a bubble.
Those alien floating objects are usually classic images, that interacts with the main subjects.
The floating bubble becomes a speech bubble, which similar to a comic, only that it is a classic image that has been narrative deformed.
It is important to me that I create two image levels that communicate with each other.

Impressum