A good friend of mine calls it “Schöne Müllhaufen”, beautiful trash-piles. Indeed, I’m quite fascinated by everything that falls apart and thus looks like an alien in our polished world. In a way its that borderline between a completely man-made world and nature – or call it chaos – claiming back it's power.

A majority of photographs I take uses a panoramic image format. To me this much more resembles the way I see – or should we say perceive – the world. Things can be put or even forced into relation with, and perspective to each other. The photographic eye of the camera can connect things that weren’t meant to be connected.
In comparison, regular aspect ratios seem to provide more of a cut-out view emphasizing one single object in the frame.

You can reach me via email: mail <at> olafmatthes <dot> de

  
Exhibitions:

• group exhibition "Kunstpreis der Mecklenburgischen Versicherungsgruppe für Bildende Kunst in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2016" at Kunstsammlung Neubrandenburg, Germany (June 26 - September 4, 2016)
• "GARBAGE" at Koeppenhaus Greifswald, Germany (February 11 - March 3, 2016)
• group exhibition "entrÿckt | Neue Greifswalder Fotografie" at Kunstverein Rostock, Germany (April 15 - May 13, 2015)
• "MÜLL" - solo exhibition at Galerie Bild Plus, Berlin, Germany (September 21 - October 31, 2014)
• "Verbundpflaster / Uniwersalna kostka betonowa" - solo exhibition at Kunstraum B, Kiel, Germany (November 2012)
• "Verbundpflaster / Uniwersalna kostka betonowa" - solo exhibition at Medienwerkstatt / Caspar-David-Friedrich-Institut as part of polenmARkT festival, Greifswald, Germany (November 2010)
  read the webmoritz article (in German language)
• "Seeblicke" shown as part of the group exhibition "NOVP: Neue Fotografie und Videokunst aus Vorpommern" at Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald, Germany (March 2009)
• "ohne Titel" - black and white photographs shown as part of an exhibition together with Kathrin Becker (Rostock) at the 'Galerie auf Zeit' in Braunschweig, Germany (June 2001)