Matthias Mansen

Together with the Rolf Horn Foundation, the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation is showing the retrospective "Matthias Mansen. Triest or the Gods" with works from four decades. Matthias Mansen is one of the centrale proponents of woodcut printing in contemporary art. He has worked exclusively in this medium since 1983.

Mansen’s monumental color woodcut prints, which comprise several printing blocks and are in part printed in overlays and in ever-changing arrangements, represent a significant new development in the art of woodcut printing. In their technical complexity and monumental size, his woodcuts are probably unique in contemporary art.

Mansen often repurposes discarded objects—an old door, a panel from a cupboard, wood found on the street, floorboards or planks—to make printing blocks. As a result, the grain of the wood, as well as the traces of its prior use, the signs of wear and tear, also flow into the work. Sometimes, he saws up his printing blocks, combining the individual parts in a wide array of new variations. The resulting possibilities are virtually boundless. The series of works "Triest or the Gods", which gave the exhibition its title, illustrates this.

The Kunstmuseum Singen will present the exhibition as a second station from September 25.