BIOGRAPHY

Matthias Bechly was born in Hamburg in 1947, where he grew up in an artistic family. He later studied electronics at the Technical University in Munich and went on to follow a career as an engineer in this field. Fine arts and music have always been a huge influence on him and are essential to his life. A self-taught artist, he has been drawing and painting since childhood.

'Nature and Artefact' are the subjects he largely focuses on in his work, exploring how these contrasting elements can merge aesthetically to finally synthesise, construct and structure "a landscape". Through the alienation of colours and processes of deformation and abstraction, his work seeks to express the inner world of sensations and thoughts which arise whilst perceiving and contemplating the outside world. These transformations are most clearly demonstrated in his large-scale works on hardboard, canvas and paper in mixed techniques.

His extensive collection of landscape drawings – mostly made with graphite pen, with the occasional use of colour – were made on his business trips to Zelenogorsk, Siberia and on his annual visits to the Cycladic island, Amorgos.

For his small-format illustrations and his free-hand works on paper, Matthias uses graphite-pen, steel-pen, oil-pastels, water colours and lino-print technique.

His works have been exhibited across Germany:
Munich (1979)
Hamburg (1983)
Murnau (1997)
Dresden (2017)
Seifhennersdorf (2018)

He recently also had his works exhibited on the Greek island of Amorgos (2018-19).

Matthias is a member of the "Kuenstlerbund Garmisch-Partenkirchen" [Artists Association] since 2014 and has been participating in its annual exhibitions.

He partook in The Pimlott Foundation’s exhibition "From Black and White to Colour" in Colchester, UK (2014), exhibiting a variety of his works.

In the past two years, Matthias took part in the open-air exhibitions 'Vele al vento in Teverina 2019' and 'Biennale Viterbo 2020' in Lubriano (VT), Italy with two larger format painted sails.

Matthias is married and lives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany.