Damien & The Love Guru

Even among an extraordinary generation of figurative painters, Marwitz stands out for his distinctive, challenging visual idiom. Elegiac, myth-laden motifs, often borrowed from Greco-Roman funerary reliefs, stage a disturbing feast of physicality. The Brussels based artist uses a caustic palette and a painting style that combines old techniques with contemporary appeal.

Education

• De Ateliers, 2015, Amsterdam, NL
• MA Fine Art, Städelschule, 2013, Frankfurt, DE
• Diploma in Fine Arts, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, 2012, Hamburg, DE

Solo & Duo Exhibitions

• Onions, Damien & The Love Guru, 2021, Brussels, BE
• Diananess, with Christiane Blattmann, Le Berceau, 2021, Marseille, FR
• The Raid, Barbara Weiss, 2021, Berlin, DE
• ROD, with Raphaela Vogel, Kantine, 2021, Brussels, BE
• Kündigung, Lucas Hirsch, 2020, Dusseldorf, DE
• Slug’s Arrest, Sundy, 2019, London, UK
• Narch till June, Kunstverein Dortmund, 2019, Dortmund, DE
• Bonaventura Jannis Marwitzle, Damien & The Love Guru, 2018, Brussels, BE
• Like Unhappy Fruit, Lucas Hirsch, 2018, Dusseldorf, DE
• D.E.L.F, 2017, Vienna, AT
• The Year Is Over Now, Marwan, 2016, Amsterdam, NL
• Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, Twenty Years, 2015, Berlin, DE
• Forehead, Bad Bentheim, 2014, Bentheim, DE
• Baby Birds, with Jannis Marwitz, Dorothea Schlueter, 2015, Hamburg, DE
• New State Of The Birds, with Jannis Marwitz, Apes & Castles, 2015, Brussels, BE

Selected Group Exhibitions

• Art Cologne, Clages and Damien & The Love Guru, 2022, Cologne, DE
• a proie et l’ombre, Crèvecoeur, 2022, Paris, FR
• Mural session #3 with Marta Riniker Radich and Max Ruf, 2022, Geneva, CH
• Look, Lightning Has Struck the Flowers, SUNDY, 2022, London, GB
  (conceived by Christiane Blattmann & Jannis Marwitz)
• Pooky’s Reform, Kunsthalle Fribourg, 2022, Fribourg, DE
• Sweet Lies, Ludwig Forum, 2021, Aachen, DE
• Matchmaker, hosted by Damien & The Love Guru for Various Others, Loggia, 2021, Munich, DE
• Guten Morgen, Europa!, A Tale Of A Tub, 2019, Rotterdam, NL
• Where Do Streams Run To?, hosted by Damien & The Love Guru and Lucas Hirsch, Conceptual Fine Arts, 2019, Milan, IT
• The Chasm, Franz-Josefs Kai 3/17, 2019, Vienna, AT
• Don Quixote, Barbara Weiss, 2018, Berlin, DE
• Metamorphoseon, Sultana, 2018, Paris, FR
• Friend of a Friend, hosted by Lucas Hirsch for FOAF, ChertLüdde, 2018, Berlin, DE
• SM, Sans Titre 2016, 2018, Marseille, FR
• B-sides & Rarities, Damien & The Love Guru, 2017, Brussels, BE
• Aby Warburg Mnemosyne Bilderatlas, 8. Salon, 2017, Hamburg, DE
• Augury, BQ, 2016, Berlin, DE
• Aby Warburg Mnemosyne Bildatlas, ZKM Karlsruhe, 2016, Karlsruhe, DE
• Grand Café, Apes & Castles, 2016, Brussels, BE
• Micro Celebrities, Just Married, 2016, Brussels, BE
• Function Creep, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, 2015, NL
• Plus Jamais Seul, Standards, 2013, Rennes, FR
• Collision Course, Sodom & Gomorrah, 2013, Amsterdam, NL
• Exclusively für Alle, Prince of Wales, 2013, Munich, DE
• De Ateliers, 2013, Amsterdam, NL
• Say My Name, Say My Name, MMK, 2013, Frankfurt, DE
• Erection Painting, Beyoncé, 2013, Amsterdam, NL
• Kunstraum München, 2012, Munich, DE
• Afraid to be Good, Lost Projects, 2012, Quezon City, PH
• Schlagstock durch Aura kaufen, Kunstkammer, 2012, Schlieren, CH

Grants and Awards

• Bad Bentheim Ruisdael Stipend, 2014, DE
• Städelschule Linklaters Award, Frankfurt, 2013, DE

Related Activities

• Co-organiser of exhibition, with Christiane Blattmann, Sundy, 2022, London, UK
• Project in Public Space, “Betongalerie / Towers of Hope”, with Christiane Blattmann, 2011-2013, Hamburg, DE
• Co-organiser of screening “Dieter Froese”, with Christiane Blattmann, 2012, Rome, IT
• Co-founder of exhibition space “Die Reliktion”, with Christiane Blattmann, Golden Pudel Club, 2009-2013, Hamburg, DE

• Let’s All Become Me!, with Christiane Blattmann, edition Kunstwegen, 2015, DE
• Say my Name, Say my Name, published by MMK, 2013, Frankfurt, DE
• Vandel 7: Sozialgestaltung: Liebe plus Friedhof, edited by Helmut A. Müller, published by Hospitalhof, 2011, Stuttgart, DE

Published Work

• Mainstream, Pfeil #10, edited by Anja Dietmann, published by Montez Press, 2018, Hamburg, DE
• Function Creep, published by De Ateliers, 2015, Amsterdam, NL
• Zeigefinger, Pfeil #1, edited by Anja Dietmann, published by Montez Press, 2012, Hamburg, DE
• Serie, Kartoffelverlag, 2010, Hamburg, DE
• Vandel #5, Kartoffelverlag, 2009, Hamburg, DE
• Vandel #1, Kartoffelverlag, 2008, Hamburg, DE

• Seeing & Believing: Christian Imagery in Painting Now, Art in America, 2022
• ‘Paris+ Art Fair Opens: More Corporate, Less French’, New York Times, 2022
• Pooky’s Reform, Art Viewer, 2022
• Onions, Mousse Magazine, 2021
• Onions, GalleriesNow, 2021
• Onions, Agenda Brussels, 2021
• Matchmaker, Art Viewer, 2021
• ‘Jannis Marwitz, The Raid’, Jens Asthoff, KUNSTFORUM International, 2021
• Kündigung, Contemporary Art Daily, 2020
• ‘Jannis Marwitz at Dortmunder Kunstverein’,Moritz Scheper, Art Review, 2020
• ‘Myth Kissed and Foam-Born: Jannis Marwitz’, Moritz Scheper, Mousse Magazine, 2019
• ‘Three Writings on Jannis Marwitz’, Piero Bisello, Contemporary Fine Arts, 2019
• ‘Slanted and Enchanted: Oriane Durand on the Year in Shamanism and Superstition’, Oriane Durand, Frieze, 2018
• ‘https://www.frieze.com/article/jannis-marwitz’, Mitch Speed, Frieze, 2017
• The Year Is Over Now, Critic’s Guide, Gabriela Acha, Frieze, 2016