PHILIPP MESSNER

Philipp Messner (1975, lives and works in Munich and Berlin) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1994 to 1999 and at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris between 1998 and 1999. He regularly teaches at art academies and gives lectures in Germany and internationally. His works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions, for example at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2022), Museum im Prediger Schwäbisch Gmünd (2021), Ludwig Forum Aachen (2019), Bienal de Curitiba (2019), Neues Museum Nürnberg (2018), Museion Bolzano (2017), Stadtmuseum München (2017), ERES Foundation in Munich (2016) and Fei Contemporary Art Centre Shanghai (2013). His works can be found in numerous public and private collections, including the Bundeskunstsammlung in Bonn, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Bundestag Collection in Berlin, the Museion in Bolzano and the Stadtmuseum München.

Philipp Messner’s works open up spaces of experience that play with our perception through the use of different mediums and techniques. The ever closer connection between nature and artificiality and the influence of the virtual world on the way we experience and perceive reality are among the main themes of his work. The question of perception, both in physical and philosophical terms, is central to the artist's work. The search for the essence of the gesture and a profound reflection on materiality show the proximity of Philipp Messner’s practice to the masters of Arte Povera, with whom the artist studied: first with Michelangelo Pistoletto at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, then with Giuseppe Penone at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris.

As with these artists, interaction and experimentation with different materials are of great importance to him. He analyses their structure and nature in depth in order to imagine new ways of interacting and to create space for a creative process that is willingly guided by the particularities of the material and open to the unknown.

In the case of stone, for example, the artist is interested in emphasising its vitality and dynamism in relation to the phenomena of layering and aggregation through interaction with the liquid colours. An unusual approach to marble as a material, dedicated to its porosity and fragility.

The use of different mediums allows Philipp Messner to explore new possibilities of two-dimensional image production in combination with sculptural activity, digital image reproduction and the performative dimension. His practice is a combination of a conceptual and sensitive approach in which materiality and process take centre stage.