November 18 through January 13, 2002

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will present German artist Thomas Scheibitz's first solo museum exhibition in the United States. MATRIX 195: Thomas Scheibitz 1-geometrica B opens on Sunday, November 18.

The exhibition will include an entirely new body of paintings created during the artist's residency this fall at the prestigious Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin County, as well as works on paper and a sculpture.

Scheibitz's paintings are semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. The subjects of his paintings are clearly discernible in form: a bird is obviously a bird, and a building is obviously a building. However, it is Scheibitz's bold arrangement of colors that make his paintings appear abstract in nature. The artist carefully selects his colors to create a sharp contrast between dull, 1970s-style colors - olive green, pale mauve, dull orange - and bright hues of sky blues, vivid reds, and lemon yellows. The placement of each color is
carefully considered to balance or neutralize its neighbors, producing an effect of extreme flatness.

The abstract quality of Scheibitz's paintings is intensified with varying brushstrokes and drips of color that break up solid forms into jagged planes of color. Portions of his paintings have been left merely sketched in. The result is a fragmented image of bold shapes that stand out individually, yet manage to cohesively come together as abstract renderings of familiar objects such as flowers, buildings, and landscapes.

Born in Raderberg in 1968, the young artist completed his Master of Fine Arts at the Hochschule für Bildende Künst of Dresda and received the scholarship Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. In 1999 he was chosen for an international exchange program at the University of Columbus in Ohio. He currently works and resides in Berlin.
Scheibitz's work has been seen at various national and international venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.

Public Programs
Artists' Talk
Sunday, November 18, 3 p.m.
Gallery 1
Thomas Scheibitz will talk about his recently completed fall
residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin County,
where he created the work in his MATRIX exhibition.

About MATRIX
Known for presenting innovative, sometimes challenging work that might be difficult to show in commercial galleries or more traditional museum spaces, the BAM/PFA's 22 year-old MATRIX program demonstrates that art is vital, dynamic, and thought-provoking. In the last two decades, MATRIX has presented more than 180 exhibitions featuring artists such as John Baldessari, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Nan Goldin, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, Nancy Spero, and Andy Warhol. Recent exhibitions have presented work by Shirin Neshat, Doug Aitken, Peter Doig, Tobias Rehberger, and Ernesto Neto. MATRIX not only provides the Bay Area with a schedule of cutting-edge exhibitions, but has also attracted national and international acclaim.