PRESS - EXCERPTS

"the more concrete the picture, the more confused the viewer".

malte sonnenfeld

Grafschafter Nachrichten (2022)

(Malte Sonnenfeld ed.)...is considered one of the leading German representatives of the Neo-Pop art movement. Jeff Koons, Neo Rauch and Damien Hirst are internationally regarded as other leading figures in this direction. 

Hindenburger (2022)

Nice to see that there is room for contemporary, modern art in Bettrath, brought to life by a well-known artist like Sonnenfeld...and a good example that art doesn't just belong on the wall, but in the middle of society.

Meine Woche (2022)

So for those who think that the figures are arbitrary and have no deeper meaning behind them, take a look at Sonnenfeld's art - because it goes deep. Sonnenfeld puts his figures into a new context, sometimes original, sometimes bitterly evil.

Rhein Zeitung (2022)

Unkel has turned into an art mile for one weekend. The local artists had invited ... to their "Open Studios". Visitors from all over the region took the opportunity to finally enjoy normality again... "People enjoy the events",the "Neo-Pop-Art" artist Malte Sonnenfeld is pleased... "The mood in the whole town can probably be described as cheerful." Sonnenfeld now works not only in his regular studio in Unkel, but also in his hometown of Cologne and in Mönchengladbach.

Neue Frankfurter Zeitung (2021)

Thoughts on God, the world and art...host Malte Sonnenfeld, artist and one of Germany's best-known neo-pop art painters...interviewed philosopher Heinz-Theo Frings (at the Rosenhang Museum, ed.).

Blick aktuell (2021)

"The Schwabach Altar belongs ... among the largest late Gothic winged altars in Germany. Now a new, no less impressive colorful, albeit secular, exclamation point of art has been added to this imposing church: The Unkel painter and artist Malte Sonnenfeld..."

Rheinische Post (2021)

"Sonnenfeld has established himself with his works as a new greatness in the German art scene. "

Grenzecho (Belgian Newspaper 2021).

"...Colorful are the pictures, but they contain a lot of history - art history and contemporary history...The diversity of the works is impressive."

BRF - Belgian Radio (2021)

"In Germany, Malte Sonnenfeld has firmly established himself in the art scene. Now it is Belgium's turn"

Rosenhang Museum/Weilburg a.d. Lahn (2021)

"Malte Sonnenfeld is one of the best known German neo-pop artists"

Rheinischer Spiegel (2021)

"Malte Sonnenfeld...is regarded by art connoisseurs as a pioneer with his Neo Pop Art."

Badener Tageblatt (2020)

"All art - no deco" in the Old Steam Bath...The Society of Friends of Young Art has succeeded in bringing Sonnenfeld, a "Neo Pop Art" artist known throughout Germany, to the spa town."

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2020)

"...Malte Sonnenfeld takes new painterly paths in his current cycle "From the Woods," which he is showing at the Kulturwerkstatt. Although he remains true to his style of neo-pop art in the broadest sense, it is no longer still lifes or the almost forgotten icons of entertainment culture, but Sonnenfeld turns to nature, the trees, the forest, currently for many people an oasis away from Corona..."

HOERB Image Architecture (2020)

"A great personification of the cultural city of Unkel .... also in the cultural workshop Koslar & Seidel in the Pützgasse and ... present in the historic town hall !"

NR Kurier (2020)

(about the cinematic documentary about Malte Sonnenfeld) "...The result is a very illuminating documentary about the working method of an artist, his position in contemporary art, the interpretation of his works, but also an encouragement film for other artists."

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2019)

"With a seemingly infinite cosmos of signs and set pieces...The artist presents his ironic and biting interpretations to the viewer with his combinations of icons from culture and politics and motifs and symbols of the modern consumer and commodity world....

Lüttringhauser Anzeiger (2018)

"...Fantasies, memories and visions unite into one idea...The fascination of viewing are the many nuanced finesses...once the ironic aspects are grasped, the context of the provocative form of expression opens up to the viewer...that Malte Sonnenfeld exhibits for about four weeks in Lennep fills the gallery owner with great joy..."

Kunst am Mittelrhein (2018)

"His (Malte Sonnenfeld...Red.) ironic, enigmatic paintings, full of socio-political references, surprise the viewer again and again with extraordinary pictorial ideas and bold contradictions, painting with a wink, in which one should also not disregard the titles!"

Rhein-Zeitung (2018)

"Sonnenfeld is one of the best known German Neo-Pop-Art artists and is already counted among the important contemporary artists..."

Blick aktuell (2018)

"...the bold colors of neo-pop-art artist Malte Sonnenfeld, who enlivens his enigmatic paintings with comic-strip characters and who points out bold contradictions such as a "summer that never existed" with a wink."

Remscheider General-Anzeiger (2018)
"...Sonnenfeld's artistic work reveals his alert intelligence with which he observes contemporary events. 
At times, his images betray deep consternation...Sonnenfeld's images deserve to be given a second and a 
third look at them...The paintings possess intellectual depth..."

Kölner Stadt Anzeiger (2018)

"... "Dream Islands" is the name of the art project by Malte Sonnenfeld and Andre Böxkes, which can be seen at the art gallery at Landmannstrasse 31 until August 23. To create confusion in the tiredness of the saturated society is their sincere concern. This is what the exhibition does by ironically negotiating the search for security..."

Rheinische Anzeigenblätter (2018)

"The reciprocal connections between the themes of art and dementia were addressed by artists such as...Malte Sonnenfeld...in the impressive first edition of Kunstmomente (Rhein-Erft...Red.) ... Sonnenfeld's colorful pictures in neo-pop art style with formative slogans like: "Keep it short!" attracted the viewers' attention. Not only because they were well crafted and strikingly colorful. They also stimulated thought. Goal achieved."

Focus online (2017)

"...Meanwhile...(he...Red.) has made his mark on more than 50 exhibitions and various art fairs...Malte Sonnenfeld shows still lifes, icons, portraits, tells stories of his generation that deal with social and societal reality, materialism, commercialization and oversaturation."

Lokalkompass (2017)

"...Malte Sonnenfeld's images are a colorful homage to his idols, and anyone who engages with them will perhaps see cultural history through different eyes."

Weser-Kurier Bremen (2017)

"...Multitalented Malte Sonnenfeld (...) but his philosophical and philological insights have also been incorporated into his pop imagery (...) Social criticism with abysmal humor and a pinch of irony (...) "

Extrablatt Siegburg (2017)

"Malte Sonnenfeld is now one of the most important contemporary artists in North Rhine-Westphalia."

press Blick aktuell (2017)

"...Although it is anything but easy to highlight individual artists, but with the neo-pop artist Malte Sonnenfeld, who shows his work in the new KiH tent in front of the Freiligrathaus...absolute heavyweights had already successfully applied for participation in KiH (Kunst in den Unkeler Höfen...Red.).

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2017)

"Sonnenfeld has already left a clear mark on the national art scene (...) in the past four years he has been represented in more than 50 exhibitions - from East Frisia and Dortmund to Rio and New York."

Ostfriesischer Kurier (2017)

"Art with humor, precision and history (...) New works in the country gallery Dellarte in Südarle (...) The drawing card of this fifth summer exhibition represents the Cologne Malte Sonnenfeld."

Extrablatt Königswinter (2017)

"He is an artist who (...) comes along with a certain wit, a certain irony and thus establishes an initial communication with the visitor. Beyond that, however, the 49-year-old then engages in a discourse with the viewer in a completely different, more insistent, almost insidious way that is much more profound...Malte Sonnenfeld was a desired candidate..."

99 Artists (2017)

"...But just as little as Sigmar Polke's works, Malte Sonnenfeld's art cannot be reduced exclusively to stylistic aspects or variations of Pop Art's meaning in terms of content. This impression is also reinforced by the technical artifice of collage, with which the spectrum in Malte Sonnenfeld's mode of expression extends far beyond classical painting."

Blixxm (2017)

"The artist group 4:1 with...Malte Sonnenfeld put the "search for traces" in the thematic center of their new exhibition, which premieres in the Bentheim studio. As different as the four artists from NRW are in the form of their art, they are united in this theme and skillfully link their works together."

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2016)

"Pop art images with wit and depth. Multi-talented Malte Sonnenfeld shows a selection of his works in Bad Honnef's town hall...He draws from expertise in art, politics, religion, literature, film, sports and music with which he spices his pictures..."

Aachener Zeitung (2016)

"Senkrechtstarter exhibits at Dürener Tor...Neo Pop Art is progress for Malte Sonnenfeld. But he also finds motifs in the past (...) He brings the themes into contexts, tells his version of the world and lets the viewer guess what messages are behind the shapes and colors..."

Honnef Today (2016)

"Pop art master Malte Sonnenfeld in the town hall...The renowned artist (...) has (...) become a new great in the German art scene."

WAZ (2016)

"Contemporary art fair for the first time in Emmerich. There has never been so much diversity to see in the Emmerich Art Museum...Malte Sonnenfeld presents colorful pop art..."

Rhein-Zeitung (2016, on the occasion of the solo exhibition at the Museum zur Zeitgeschichte).

"Federal Chancellors become art objects...His art is image turned, cryptic, sometimes subversive humor peppered with a lot of irony (...) Sonnenfeld's Neo-Pop-Art wants (...) to go beyond Pop-Art. He wants...to offer a whole grammar of Pop Art. A comprehensive set of rules for a new form of expression."

Süddeutsche (2016)

"In the magnificent show of the Kunstkreis Gräfelfing, men are only allowed to occupy themselves with themselves...Word seems to have spread that the Kunstkreis always succeeds in creating sensational exhibitions that become crowd pullers. Thus, once again, names that are popular in the art scene were lured to the suburb..."

Kölner Stadt Anzeiger (2016)

(Malte Sonnenfeld in the... Red.) "Gallery Eifelkunst in Gemünd...The paintings show the serious and political side of the 45-year-old.... "Neo-Pop-Art" he calls not inaccurately the direction in which he is artistically on the road."

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2016)

"...Reason enough for the WBF to offer a Willy Brandt wine by Krupp's son Oliver. Its bottles are adorned with a label designed by Cologne artist Malte Sonnenfeld based on his acrylic painting of Willy Brandt with the ambiguous title "Ein guter Roter" (...)"

Schleidener Wochenspiegel (2016)

"Sonnenfeld is often compared to Sigmar Polke because his art contains strong ironic elements and he uses the stylistics of pop art (...)"

Ruhrnachrichten (2015)

"Buy paintings on three floors in the old Museum Ostwall (...) The witty comic art of Malte Sonnenfeld stands out (...)"

Jo Pellenz, artist and co-founder of art' pu:l (2015)

"...he then also boldly gives the whole thing directly the title Neo Pop Art, in order to make it directly clear: I am not the one who quotes here, but I am the one who continues!"

Extrablatt Rhein-Sieg Kreis (2015)

"...The Rhenish whiz kid of Pop Art...a master of gentle anarchy."

Kölnische Rundschau (2015)

"...Wit, irony and glimpses into the abyss...."

Köllefornia (2015)

"...What a gifted creative contemporary, this Malte Sonnenfeld...Brilliant his handling of ideas and colors. ...They (the pictures, ed.) are positively upbeat, although on closer inspection something cryptic resonates..."

Kölnische Rundschau (2014)

"...In the meantime, he is known throughout Germany for his colorful, comic-like and cryptic acrylic paintings."

Bonner Generalanzeiger (2014)

"...Witty and pleasantly standing out from the crowd are the paintings of Malte Sonnenfeld, a representative of "Neo-Pop-Art". That his superheroes are comic figures from his childhood can be easily recognized..."

Kölner Wochenspiegel (2014)

"Malte Sonnenfeld...is also known to art connoisseurs...Germany-wide known in the neo-pop style..."