Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Mateusz Fahrenholz artist

Mateusz Fahrenholz was born to Polish refugee parents in St. Andrews, Scotland in 1963. He grew up in a vibrant Polish community and received his education both in Scotland and in Poland. As an artist, often working with found materials, Fahrenholz frequently uses photographs in his practice and explores themes of exile and memory.

Born: 1963 St Andrews, Scotland


Biography

Artist Mateusz Fahrenholz was born to Polish refugee parents in St. Andrews, Scotland in 1963. Both his parents were forced to flee eastern Poland (now Ukraine) with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. His father was captured by German forces but managed to escape from a labour camp with a group of Poles, eventually finding refuge in the UK and settling in Scotland. Fahrenholz grew up deeply embedded in the vibrant Polish exile community of Fife in southeast Scotland. Between 1984 and 1985, Fahrenholz pursued summer studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland. He then earned an honours degree in fine art and printmaking from Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen from 1984–88, followed by a postgraduate diploma in 1988–89. After graduation, he continued his artistic practice across various mediums, including print, 3D constructions, and writing. Additionally, he worked as a lecturer in the Fine Art Department at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee.

Polish heritage is the main source of inspiration for Fahrenholz and his art practice often deals with themes of exile and its aftermath, in a way that seeks to establish universal resonance. The frequent motif of crossing oceans symbolises familiar themes of separation, peril, and transition. Fahrenholz regularly uses old photographs, especially those of unknown people and places from Poland and Eastern Europe, and incorporates them in box-like creations. These boxes, whose slightly surreal quality recalls those created by Joseph Cornell, give the impression of being made from aged or found materials, evoking a sense of nostalgia and history. Fahrenholz enhances this effect by treating surfaces to mimic age and by incorporating domestic items, such as candles, bread, and milk bottles, which he alters to seem old and precious. A key aspect of the work is his exploration of memory, portraying it not as a precise retrieval of past events, but as a fragmented and elusive reconstruction. Fahrenholz’s later works have shifted to a more minimalist presentation, focusing on abstract elements, such as horizons, rather than concrete subjects. These horizons symbolise endless movement and the experience of exile or travel, placing the viewer in a state of perpetual transition. Trained as a printmaker, in 2001, Mateusz Fahrenholz collaborated with DCA Print Studio in Dundee to create a series of screenprints, using a rubber stamp to sign the works. He highlighted Guernica, Dachau, and Waco, locations known for their violent histories and prosperity due to local gun manufacturing. By linking town names with gun production, Fahrenholz revealed hidden ties between the arms trade and politics. Fahrenholz also produces limited and small-scale editions using rubber stamps, plaster casts, and screen-printed metal plaques. This work often includes playful references to art and art history, adding intellectual engagement to his deeply personal and historical narratives.

Fahrenholz has held solo and group exhibitions across Europe. He regularly exhibits in London with England & Co where, alongside regular group shows, he has had two solo exhibitions. In 1991, he had a two-person exhibition, Moving Memories at the Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, with the Polish artist Piotr Bies, whose work he had seen at an annual sculpture exhibition in Krakow the previous year. The show centred on the Polish word ‘ojczyzna’ (meaning homeland) with Bies and Fahrenholz presenting pieces dealing with the themes of displacement, memory, and the intertwining of national history with personal memory. The majority of Fahrenholz's pieces were created during his residency at Aberdeen Art Gallery, with the main theme of exile. Imag(in)ing the Past was the title of the 2012 group show at the University of Dundee which featured a wide range of artworks, varying greatly in style and scale, from small monochrome pieces to large, vibrant canvases, all united in the exploration of historical narratives, and where precise interpretation was often left up to the viewer. In 2016, his work was included in the exhibition, SCULPTURAL held at the University of Dundee, which showcased the university’s sculpture collection alongside preparatory material, such as sketches and photographic records of lost sculptures. In 2017, Fahrenholz was invited by Marian Leven RSA to take part in the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Annual Exhibition.

Fahrenholz has received several awards and grants during his career, including a Go and See grant from the Prince’s Trust in 1990. In 1991, he was artist-in-residence at Aberdeen Art Gallery and the following year won the Go Ahead grant to collaborate with Bies in 1992. In 1998, he was awarded the Arts Foundation award. In 2022, he became a project collaborator for Madnicity Pavilion, an art-activist action designed to reshape how madness is perceived and treated in the future, and held on an island in Venice, where a psychiatric hospital once stood. After spending most of his life in the UK, Mateusz Fahrenholz currently lives and works in Poland. In the UK public domain, his works can be found in the collection of Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums; Ben Uri Collection; National Library of Scotland; St Andrews Libraries, and the University of Dundee Fine Art Collection.

Related books

  • Derek Whitehead, ‘Artist's Labor’, Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive), Vol. 5, No. 1, 2007, p. 14
  • David Buckman, ‘Mateusz Fahrenholz’, in Artists in Britian since 1945 (Bristol: Art Dictionaries Ltd, 2006), p. 491
  • Paul Crowther et al, Between Exile and Memory: the Work of Mateusz Fahrenholz, Artist in Residence, exh. cat. (Aberdeen: Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1991)
  • Diana A. Sykes and Pryzmat Zpap, Ojcznza: Sculpture, exh. cat. (St. Andrews: Crawford Centre for the Arts, 1991)

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (lecturer )
  • Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen (student)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • 191st Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition (group show), Edinburgh, Scotland (2017)
  • Sculptural (group show), University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland (2016)
  • Imag(in)ing the Past (group show), University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland (2012)
  • Summer Exhibition (group show), England & Co, London (2008)
  • Mixed Exhibition (group show), England & Co, London (2007)
  • Mateusz Fahrenholz (solo exhibition), England & Co, London (2002)
  • Mateusz Fahrenholz (solo exhibition), Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland (1991)
  • Moving Memories (exhibition with Piotr Bies), Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, Scotland (1991)
  • Open Prints Exhibition (group show), Bankside Gallery, London (1988)
  • New Generation Artists (group show), Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland (1988)
  Mateusz Fahrenholz
   
Ben Uri collection

Mateusz Fahrenholz in the Ben Uri collection

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Mateusz Fahrenholz]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Mateusz Fahrenholz] in the Ben Uri Library