Matthias Mansen Biographie

Since 2001 I have been working in a renovated former bread factory near Potsdamer Platz, a typical Berlin brick building. The studio has classical Prussian ceiling constructions, and I can see in all four directions. This allowed me to have different workspaces for printing, painting and office work.

In 1997, I was able to rent a large studio space in the self-organized artists' association “Mengerzeile e.V.”. The merging of the previously divided East and West Berlin was particularly noticeable there, at the transition between Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Treptow. It was interesting for me to work in a lively exchange with other artists again after a long time.

In the mid-90s, I moved back to Berlin. There I integrated my studio into a large apartment in an old Berlin building near Potsdamer Strasse. The historical, architectural and social fractures that are visible in this area have had a lasting influence on my work. In 2012, these impressions culminated in the series “Potsdamer Straße”.

"In 1990 Mansen moved deeper into Brooklyn, to another 'artists complex' on Dean Street, and by early 1991 he was far anough along a new project that he invited me to come see. What a sight! The large studio was filled with rows of prints, all a good size, hung on clothes lines with pins. Some showed simple arrangements of plates and pans and utensils, printed in bright colors in a wide expanse of white paper, like his first prints." (Jacqueline Brody, About Matthias Mansen: A Story, in Art on Paper Vol.3, No. 2, Nov.Dec. 1998, p. 26-32)

My first studio in New York was in Williamsburg, New York. A former yeshiva was purchased by a number of artists and turned into studio space. I was able to rent a studio there for about a year. The interaction with the other artists was very exciting and inspired me to observe verbal communication and gestures. I developed the series “Gespräch” and “Begegnung”.

My studio in the Cité internationale des arts was located in a large warehouse next to a dance studio for classical ballet. In this open space I could rent a workspace in the size and shape of a parking lot. I chose this "parking lot" as the basis for my series "Paris, Ile St Louis - Ile de la Cité", cutting and arranging my printing blocks there.

In addition to other studio spaces in London, I spent some time in a larger so called "garden flat" in 1987, which I also used as a studio. Being able to use the attached garden to work in, was very beneficial for the various working processes: I could cut the woodblocks outside and print indoors. The walks in the nearby Hamstead Heath meant that observations of nature now became part of my work. The connection between working and living was also interesting, which led to a more holistic perception of the artistic working process.

I moved to London in 1986 with the support of a DAAD scholarship. My first studio was in an old warehouse right on the Thames. Artists from various fields had settled in this building. This was in stark contrast to the major structural transformation of the surrounding area: the old “Docklands” were transformed into a modern banking and service district within a remarkably short period of time. The observation of such urban development processes has accompanied my artistic work to this day.

My first studio in Berlin was in Kreuzberg. I rented a workspace in a shared studio facility, where a loosely associated group of artists and musicians worked and sometimes lived as well. There were also concerts of experimental music, organised by the "Freunde guter Musik".