Matthias Esch (b. 1988, Andernach, DE) is a painter and video artist. He completed a Master of Visual Arts with Honours at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin, in 2016, followed by a Master of Letters from the Glasgow School of Art in 2018.
Esch’s work is shaped by a critical relationship to language, order and fixed meaning. Influenced by personal experiences with autism within his family, his practice reflects a deep mistrust of verbal communication and its claim to clarity. His paintings translate this tension into geometric abstraction: precise, system-based compositions in which order is repeatedly unsettled through breaks, shifts and disruptions. Rather than presenting structure as stable, he treats it as emotional and subjective, liable to become fragile under pressure.
Esch has long been active in counterculture and the underground music milieu, references which enter his video works more directly. He has exhibited nationally and internationally. His first monograph, Banality of Structure, was published in 2021. In 2024, he presented his second institutional solo exhibition at Kunstverein Brandenburg, Potsdam.
2018 Master of Letters, Glasgow School of Art (UK)
2016 Master Student, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (D)
2009 – 2015 Fine Art in Kassel, Antwerp and Berlin
2003 – 2006 education as a winemaker
lives and works in Berlin
Exhibitions: (selection):
2026:
Esch | Kähler, Bondfenster, Berlin (D) (duo)
Slice Through Reality, Galerie Kutlesa, Goldau (CH) (solo)
Young Berlin, Thom Oosterhof at Dean, Berlin (D)
SOS, Hilbert Raum, Berlin (D)
Artworkers Solidarity, Neurotitan, Berlin (D)
Sammlug Holle, Kunstraum Potsdam, Potsdam (D)
2025:
Karte und Gebiet, Galerie Brockstedt, Berlin (D) (solo)
2024:
deranged chanting, Kunstverein Brandenburg, Potsdam (D) (solo)
Ufer II, Ufer 71, Berlin (D)
2023:
Salon der Gegenwart, Hamburg (D)
Paroli, Definition of done, Cologne (D)
Ufer, Ufer 71, Berlin (D)
2022:
Friends with benefiz, MARS, Frankfurt am Main (D)
Conversations in colour, Pilgrims Contemporary, London (UK)
Minibar, Galerie Oel-Frueh, Hamburg (D)
2021:
Séance (with Anna Nero and Robert Vellekoop), Schierke & Seinecke/Rundgänger, Frankfurt (D)
Spitting Diamonds – Edition Südpfalz, Das gute Leben, Kandel (D)
human drama, Spoiler, Berlin (D)
2020:
new additions, Galerie Ernst Busche (D) (online)
The days are just packed, The Pool, Istanbul (TUR)
Forma, Hilbertraum, Berlin (D)
disguise (with Thilo Jenssen and Daniel Rossi), Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen (D)
Oak Island II, Zönotheka, Berlin (D)
Adamant Romance, Blue intolerant, Casino, Berlin (D)
Minibar, Galerie Oel-Früh, Hamburg (D)
2019:
I Engineer, Halle 12 Spinnerei, Leipzig (D)
Auszug, Galerie Abbau, Berlin (D)
Ingram Collection Purchase Prize, Cello Factory, London (UK)
like the ocean does, Sox, Berlin (D) (solo)
Fling Project III, Tramway, Glasgow (UK)
Oak Island, Zönoteka, Berlin (D)
Schrein der Freundschaft, BKV Potsdam, Potsdam (D)
Every now and then, New Now, Frankfurt (D) (duo)
Every now and then, Kbh_Kabinet, Copenhagen (DK) (duo)
Drifting, Penthouse, Brussels (BE)
Watching a Movie is Watching the Object, Galerie ohne Namen, Munich (D)
2018:
Romantic Club, II., Raum für drastische Maßnahmen, Berlin (D)
marching through the fields, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London (UK)
open exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture, Edinburgh (UK)
No Safe Haven, The Pipe Factory, Glasgow (UK)
Close By, Trongate 39, Glasgow (UK)
2017:
Romantic Club – Octopus love, C4 Project, Copenhagen (DK)
das Ernste Zelt, Humboldt Carré, Berlin (D)
bitte bitte bitte, SEZ, Berlin (D)
all I want in life, ITIS Gallery, Brussels (BE) (solo)
Terra Incognita, Staldgade 74, Copenhagen (DK)
Böse Blüten, Projektraum Bethanien, Berlin (D)
2016:
more weight, Tat-Ort Bernstraße, Lucerne (CH) (duo)
traces of doubt, Ex14, Dresden (D) (duo)
Centro di gravita permanente, Centercourt Gallery, Munich (D) (duo)
One Month: After the materialization of the art object, Temporary Gallery, Cologne (D)
Quelltext, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam (D)
2015:
cool runnings, Kühlhaus, Berlin (D)
1/1, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam (solo) (D)
Walllust, Kunsthalle Weißensee, Berlin (D)
Versteckte Variable, Max Planck Institute, Berlin (D)
2014:
Kopier mir die Sonne, Akademisches Museum Bonn (D)
Blow Up, Immigration Office, Bremen (D) (duo)
2013:
Word of Mouth, Showroom, Antwerpen (Belgium)
2012:
Yes, This year it`s Documenta, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin (D)
Ante Up, Kulturhaus Bayer, Leverkusen (D)
Memory Cash, Project Venus&Apoll, Düsseldorf (D)
various Artists Vol.3, Stellwerk, Kassel (D)
2011:
Die Barbie von Sevilla, Artist Unlimited Galerie Bielefeld (D)
Mitternacht ist keine Stunde, Stellwerk Kassel (D) (duo)
Other:
2026 Finalist Prisma Art Prize, Rome (IT)
2024 Finalist Franz Hecker Scholaship (D)
2023 Shortlist College of Psychic Studies Art Prize (UK)
2022 Finalist Dietzsch Art Prize (D)
2019 Finalist Elsa-Neumann scholarship (D)
2019 Finalist Ingram Collection Prize (UK)
2019 Emerging Art Prize, Banditto Gallery (IT)
2018 RSA Keith Prize (UK)
2018 Lecturer at „Summer academy“, Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin (D)
2016 Curator of the experimental Sound Event „NO)))“, Berlin (D)
2010 – 2013 member of „Stellwerk“, Kassel (D)
2012 – 2016 Scholarship holder of Cusanuswerk, Bonn (D)
co-founder of the beneficial art project ,,Memory Cash“ (D)
Press/Publications:
Salon der Gegenwart, Gudberg Nerger (D), 2023
Dietzsch Kunstpreis, Verlag Erhard Lemm (D), 2022
Banality of structure, NEIN Publishing (D), 2021
Soft Need 23, Expanded Media Editions (CH), 2021
Aucart, London (UK), (online), 2020
Banditto Gallery, Montefollonico SI, (IT) (online), 2019
art verge, London (UK), (online), 2019
New Minds Eye, Glasgow (UK) (online), 2018
young space, Wisconsin (USA) (online), 2018
Horst und Edeltraut Magazine Berlin (D), (online), 2017
Artevie Publishing, Düsseldorf (D), (online), 2017
Quelltext, Textem Verlag, Hamburg (D), 2016
Residences:
2019 Hickster Project, San Giovanni d`Asso, Italy (IT)
2018 Dumfries House, Ayrshire, Scotland (UK)
2015 Casa ugo alto, San Stino di Livenza, Italy (IT)