Mathias Vef

Mathias Vef is a visual artist based in Germany, interested in extraordinary people at the edge of mainstream, people who are experimental with their self and their body. 

He takes photos and videos or 3D scans from people with body modifications, with tattoos, but also trans people and people who work with their bodies, from ballet dancers to sex workers. 

To him these people not only hack their bodies, but actually hack society’s mainstream. Through their presence they are a rebellion against prudish monotony. Their celebration of just being fabulous are the key inspiration for Vef as well as their physical  m(e)aterials.

With this energy of his subjects, with those samples and pieces, he creates portraits, collages or fresco like images, almost abstract mythical scenes representing the utopian state of mind of his subjects, against the mainstream and against absurd moral constructs.

His work has a psychedelic component as some images are chemically distorted through a dissolvent that is also a psychoactive molecule and at the same time destroys the pigments of the prints.

Mathias Vef also works with AI technology. His piece NUCA, an AI powered camera that shows people nude, sparked international interest up to an invitation to give a TEDx talk in 2024.

After having studies at the Royal College of Art in London, Mathias Vef exhibited in Germany, the UK, the US and across Europe.

http://mathiasvef.com