Matthias Bitzer

Matthias Bitzer works with multiple media to create abstract sculptures, drawings, and paintings. Interested in personal identity, Bitzer plays with the visual language of modernism, combining figurative portraits with abstract, geometric designs. His work often draws on the biographies of historical individuals, with his subjects including the novelist Joseph Conrad, the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, and the German avant-garde musicians Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, who are known for their collaborations with playwright Bertolt Brecht. In 2010, Bitzer was the recipient of the prestigious Otto Dix Prize, awarded annually to an emerging artist from a German-speaking country.