"What particularly fascinates me about the works of Malte van de Water is the convincing approach and fearless exploration of motifs of the digital in painting. In the impression and expression of a playful handling of forms, figures, lines, shadings and scribbles, which are created by the movement of a computer mouse, and yet in consequence are exclusively the templates and masks of a work that is painterly in the very classical sense, whose illusion hides the handwriting of an artist only in the superficial observation, lies its contemporary power, as challenging the visual habits. The possibilities of working on the computer, with digital pens and plotters, are in his artistic practice above all preparatory work and assistance for the realization of narratives, which finally, translated onto the canvas, manifested with brush and acrylic, in the superimposition, juxtaposition and coexistence of layers of paint, have as their condition an entirely physical, real space of work, a studio with all the tools of the painter's trade.

Finally, in the result, one follows the lines and scribbles, the forms and figures, their imprints in color and surface, and recognizes in them the sometimes tender, the fine, clear, and often humorous view of the painting artist on the whole depth and all the layers of possibility of a picture. Behind this, as behind the mostly merely descriptive titles of the works, are the stories that need to be revealed, and yet which above all leave room for the viewer's imagination and for a discussion about what painting - a painting - can be. Against the background of a current artistic practice whose studio and exhibition space is and remains, as it were, the digital space, and whose works must therefore lack any analog, i.e. mainly also physical presence, the works of Malte van de Water prove in this discussion, in my opinion, the strength of painting as a possible link between digital and analog worlds, in that they do not want to conceal their origin and yet can insist on their spatial presence."

Kai Eric Schwichtenberg

*1990 in Düsseldorf
Lives and works in Münster and Düsseldorf

2011 - 2018 Kunstakademie Münster Student of Prof. Michael van Ofen
Master student of Prof. Michael van Ofen
2018 - 2019 Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien Guest student of Prof. Erwin Bohatsch
2012 - 2015 Bachelor in German Studies at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität

Prizes / Scholarships / Residences
2022 Westmünsterland Scholarship of VR Bank
2021 Atelier Residence in Tunis by Galerie Selma Feriani
2018 - 2019 Erasmus Scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
2018 nrw.bank Audience Award
Since 2017 Atelier Scholarship at Speicher II in Münster

maltevandewater.com

2023 Artist Statement Parallel Vienna (EA)
Und schon löst sich das Bezugssystem, Galerie Dietrich, Köln (EA)
Above Your Head, Galerie Von & Von, Nürnberg (GA)
young painters exhibition with january pool party atmosphere in old car dealership surroundings, ES365, Düsseldorf (GA)
2022 Unseen Works, Galerie Rudolf Leeb, Wien (E)
Kunst Jetzt! Ida Gerhardi Kunstpreis, Städtische Galerie Lüdenscheid (G)
2021 Two Nights in Tunis, Tunis (E)
Die Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW, Kunstpalast und NRW Forum, Düsseldorf (G)
Ich Schreib Dir Von Zuhause, Münster, Dortmund, Düsseldorf (G)
2020 Sahne im Krieg, Galerie Januar e.V., Bochum (E)
Einmal mit Alles, Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen (G)
Prisma, Galerie Rasche Ripken, Berlin (G)
G = Group exhibition E = Solo exhibition