Wolfgang Stiller is a German artist born in Wiesbaden in 1961. He has been working as an artist for almost 40 years and is primarily an installation artist. Stiller has become well-known globally, with over 55 solo exhibitions and 85 group show exhibitions to his name. However, his journey to becoming a globally recognized artist was not easy. Stiller started studying communication design but began painting and focusing on his installation work in the background. He did not want to end up in a creative office environment and made a name for himself as an artist. Thanks to a friendly connection, he was accepted into the prestigious Art Academy in Düsseldorf, where he mainly painted, but his work and mind were continually drawn to space and his works began to take on a third dimension.

In the late 1980s, Stiller moved to Berlin, which at the time was not seen as the artistic center of Germany. Despite this, he never regretted his move and when the Berlin Wall fell in the following years, the city changed. Over the next decade, Stiller focused on his large-scale installation projects, which excited him, but did not have the same effect on galleries. Nevertheless, many museums took the young artist on for solo exhibitions, and he was even picked up by private collectors. Stiller was sticking to the art he was passionate about and was happy with the exposure he was getting from museums and private collections.

When Stiller made the move to New York in the year 2000, he faced challenges getting his work into gallery spaces, and side jobs were taking over his time in the studio. In 2006, he decided to move to Beijing, China, where his work was warmly received. In Beijing, he found it easier to get his work into the large arts spaces that were springing up across the city, and his works drew large and curious audiences. While in Beijing, he began the series of works that have become his most well-known, the "Matchstick Men" series.

Since starting the "Matchstick Men" series, Stiller's interest in the human head, separated from its body, has increased. His latest works all contain human heads in varying locations and situations. The matchstick men works are fascinating and evoke a surreal experience in the viewer. From a distance, they resemble a standard match, but when blown up to a ridiculous scale, the detail work is incredible. Each match has a human head sculpted seamlessly into the wood. Stiller uses faces from different ethnicities, and the work is open to interpretation. The main idea behind this work is the impermanence of our human nature, a reminder to use our time here wisely, and can be read in different ways.

Stiller's installations are stark yet beautiful, haunting, and somewhat unnerving. They demonstrate an artist who has always stayed true to what art means to him and not to others. His works challenge us, make us think about the nature of being human and of our world around us, and inspire different reactions from different people.

As Stiller himself says, "When we are confronted with an artwork, we always bring our personal experiences and history into this observation or reflection. Sometimes this can be much richer and more original than the intention of the artist. If we limit our encounter with the work to the intention of the artist, we deprive ourselves from some unique experiences.”

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Photographize granted permission to feature photos by Wolfgang Stiller

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