Biography
The artist Matthias Weischer, born in North Rhine-Westphalia, completed his studies in painting and graphic arts at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts (HGB) and graduated in 2000. Subsequently, he was a master student of Sighard Gille for three years. In 2002, he joined forces with ten other former students of the HGB to found the gallery Liga with Christian Ehrentraut at its head - resulting in the term "Neue Leipziger Schule". After two successful, creative years that saw many exhibitions by the group of artists on the premises of the old cotton mill in Leipzig, the collaboration of the Liga ended, but Weischer's success story continued to gain momentum. He was represented by Judy Lybke and his gallery EIGEN+ART, who - a decade earlier - had already established Neo Rauch on the American art market. In 2004, Weischer was selected for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative grant project alongside none other than David Hockney; reciprocal visits between the two artists followed, and Weischer got inspirations from his British role model. Weischer began drawing and painting as a teenager; at 32, he was awarded the Leipziger Volkszeitung art prize. His works were already being traded on the secondary market at such a young age. They were shown at solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad, such as in Miami, London and at the 51st Venice Biennale. And Weischer himself was drawn out into the world: in 2007 he left Leipzig for a fellowship at the Villa Massimo in Rome; following the move, moreover, his œuvre, which until then had been dominated by interiors, expanded to include landscape depictions. After his return to Germany, Matthias Weischer designed stage decorations for the Ruhr Festival as well as for the Mannheim Opera, and in painting his focus returned again to the depiction of interiors.
