Michael Van Ofen Essen, Germany, b. 1956

He was born in Essen in 1956 and lives and works in Düsseldorf.

He studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts.

 

Michael van Ofen’s painting is figurative, though it borders on abstraction through cropping or extreme simplification. Drawing on a deep knowledge of the history of painting, he plays with perception and probes the limits of what is recognizable.

 

He has had numerous solo exhibitions, for example at galleries such as Johnen, Berlin; Alison Jacques, London; Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Tomio Koyama, Tokyo; Marc Foxx, Los Angeles; Michael Cosar, Düsseldorf; Galliani, Neubiberg; Rubenstein/Diacono, New York; Bach & Gayk, Bochum; and Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich.

 

He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as at Dominic Mersch, Sydney; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf; Museum Kurhaus, Kleve; Matthew Marks, New York; Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Victoria Miro, London; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju, among others. His work can be found in public and private collections in Germany, such as the Kunsthalle Hamburg and the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf.