Elias Wessel

Elias Wessel (born 1978) is a visual artist living and working in New York and Germany.

Early life Wessel was born in Bonn, West Germany in 1978.

Education

1999–2000 University of Heidelberg; Art History 2000–2003 University of Mannheim – Faculty for Art and Design; Visual Communication

About Elias Wessel is committed to developing photographic concepts and procedures which culminate in abstract images that reflect contemporary discourses within society. The works function as both a contribution to the issues of social and political development and the historical conversation between photography and painting.

Solo exhibitions (selected)

It’s Complicated. Picture Theory, New York, August 2–September 7, 2024. Elias Wessel: Delirious Images – Fotografien für die nächste Gesellschaft. Kunstsammlung im Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, March 4–May 7, 2023. Elias Wessel—It’s Complicated, Is Possibly Art. 1014, New York, September 7–23, 2022. Elias Wessel – I Don’t Care. I Love my Phone. Kunstsammlung SAP, Walldorf, January 28, 2021 – April 30, 2022. Elias Wessel: Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität [The Sum of My Data. Digitization, Surveillance, Identity]. Kunstverein Speyer, December 2, 2018 – January 13, 2019. Werke aus »Die Summe meiner Daten« [Selected Works From ›The Sum of My Data‹]. Internationale Photoszene-Festival Köln, Kunstraum Ruttkowski, Cologne, September 1–30, 2018. In The End, Though, Nothing Is Lost. Deutsches Haus at New York University, NYU Arts & Science, New York, April 6–May 26, 2018. Sprung in die Zeit [Leap into Time]. No Cube – Raum für Kunst und Medien, Münster, February 18–March 25, 2018. Elias Wessel: Die Summe meiner Daten [The Sum of My Data] – B/W Series. Baustelle Schaustelle, Essen, January 12–February 25, 2018. Elias Wessel: History of Touches. Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, New York, November 10–December 15, 2017. Die Geschichte vom Vergessenen [The Story of The Forgotten]. Heinrich-Hoffmann Museum, Frankfurt am Main, February 24–July 19, 2017. Sprung in die Zeit – Zum Wesen der Bilder [Leap into Time – On the Essence of Images]. Raum für Kunst und Gegenwart, Ansbach, December 19, 2016 – February 26, 2017. Elias Wessel: Stuck Together Pieces! 1014, New York, November 2, 2016 – May 31, 2017. Spuren der Wirklichkeit [Traces of Reality]. Goethe-Institut, Frankfurt am Main, August 5–October 5, 2016. Landscapes. Künstlerbund Speyer, April 17–26, 2015. Elias Wessel: There Must Be More To Life. Art Directors Club, New York, September 2012.

Group exhibitions (selected)

Liminal Spaces. International House, New York, May 1–31, 2025 Transformationen. Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, June 5–August 11, 2024 Would You Share Your Gold Medal? School of Visual Arts, New York, November 1–8, 2023 Pulsar. Photoszene Festival, Beiste_Satellite, Cologne, May 12–21, 2023 zu mir und zu dir. Franz Jyrch, Maria Sainz Rueda, Elias Wessel; Former Synagogue Walldorf, June 25–July 24, 2022. Das Objekt im Fokus [Eyes on the Object.] Karl Blossfeldt, Alfred Ehrhardt, Walker Evans, Candida Höfer, Günther Selichar, Josef Sudek, Michael Wesely, Elias Wessel, Edward Weston, Erwin Wurm and others; SpallArt Collection, Salzburg, August 1, 2020 – May 7, 2022. Objects. Stories. Experiences: Extraordinary Things. Assembly Required, Brooklyn, NY, October 2–30, 2021. Ich bin ganz von Glas – Marianne Brandt und die gläserne Kunst von heute [I Am All of Glass – Marianne Brandt & the Art of Glass Today.] Sächsisches Industriemuseum Chemnitz, September 28–December 1, 2019. Works from the AXA Art Collection – Adolf Luther, Günther Uecker, Elias Wessel. Art Basel, Basel, March 29–31, 2018. Photo – BauSchau Projekte 2007–2018. Düsseldorf Photo 2018 at Baustelle Schaustelle, Düsseldorf, February 16–25, 2018. Grieger Relaunch. Thomas Demand, Andreas Gursky, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Damien Hirst, Elias Wessel and others; NRW Forum Düsseldorf, November 28–December 4, 2017. Doll Parts. Leslie Lohman Museum, New York, May 18, 2017. Wiesinger, Stünkel, Wessel: Sichtbarkeiten [Visibilities.] Museum Heylshof and Museum Andreasstift, Worms, August 2–September 27, 2015. Freistil – Ein transatlantischer Blick [Freestyle. A Transatlantic Perspective.] Kunstverein Speyer, May 10–June 7, 2015. IV International Artists in Residence. Exhibition Hall of the Art Fund, Kursk, September 24–November 24, 2014. Being Changed – A Group Exhibition of International Contemporary Art. MoCA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, March 8–April 14, 2013. Sagmeister. Another Show About Promotion and Advertising Material. Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul, September 22–November 25, 2012. Art from the Heart. Vanderbuilt Republic, 25CPW, Central Park West, New York, November 2011

Publications (selected)

Awdur ap Glynn, Stanisław Kordasiewicz, Sylvia Ngo, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, Kyunney Takasaeva (2026): Naming and Being: Knowledges, Identities and Cultural Politics. London: Routledge. Wessel, Elias (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts [Aesthetics of Conflict]. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. ISBN 978-3-98741-044-4. Robinson, Carl et al. (2022): Painting, Photography, and the Digital: Crossing the Borders of the Mediums. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Wessel, Elias et al. (2022): Textfetzen. It’s Complicated: Texte aus einem a/sozialen Netzwerk 2019–2021. Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Textfetzen. It's Complicated: Texts From an Anti/Social Network 2019–2021. Is Possibly Art.] Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos. Wessel, Elias / Berg, Stephan / Graser, Jenny (2020): Elias Wessel : La somme de mes données. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Paris (ed.), Berlin-Paris: Phoebe Verlag. . Wessel, Elias / Graser, Jenny (2018): EliasWessel. Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität [The Sum of My Data. Digitization, Surveillance, Identity.] Kunstverein Speyer e. V. (ed.), New York-Speyer: Phoebe. . Wessel, Elias et al. (2018): Landscapes – In the end, though, nothing is lost. Deutsches Haus at New York University, NYU Arts & Science (ed.), New York: Phoebe. . Wessel, Elias / Gisbourne, Mark (2017): Elias Wessel. Photographische Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2014–2017 [Photographic Works Between the Years 2014–2017.] 1014 and Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York (ed.), New York: Phoebe. . Wessel, Elias / Oreamuno, Ignacio / Dailey, Meghan (2014): Elias Wessel: There Must Be More To Life. Hamburg: NBVD 2014. .

Essays (selected)

Saunders, Matt (2022): »Connoisseur of Chaos: Wessel’s Broken Picture Space.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Kettler Verlag. [Deutsche Übersetzung: »Connaisseur des Chaos: Wessels zerbrochener Bildraum.«] Isaac, Gwyneira (2022): »Mind the Gap. Elias Wessel’s ›Ereignishorizonte‹ [Event Horizons] and the Thermodynamics of TikTok.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Kettler Verlag. [Deutsche Übersetzung: »Mind the Gap. Elias Wessels ›Ereignishorizonte‹ und die Thermodynamiken von TikTok.«] Herschel, Hans-Jürgen (2021): »Variations on ›The Joy in What Remains.‹« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2022): Ästhetik des Konflikts. Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2017–2021 [Aesthetics of Conflict. Works 2017–2021.] Dortmund: Kettler Verlag. Guerin, Frances (2021): »Unsettled in the Interstice: Elias Wessel’s ›Die Summe meiner Daten.‹« In: Robinson, Carl (2022): Painting, Photography, and the Digital: Crossing the Borders of the Mediums. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Wolff, Frank (2017): »The soothing power of speed: Elias Wessel’s Landscapes in the cultural history of Russian space perception« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2018): Landscapes – In the end, though, nothing is lost. Deutsches Haus at New York University, NYU Arts & Science (ed.), New York: Phoebe. Kunstsammlung Spallart, Salzburg (2019, 2021) Kunstsammlung AXA, Cologne (2015, 2021)

Selected works

Serials, 2022–2026 Anemoia, 2024 Nostalgia, 2023–2024 Space Invaders, 2023 Textfetzen, 2021–2022 Deepfakes – Privacy, 2022 Quick Response, 2021 Die Summe meiner Daten – On Series, 2017 Jejune, 2016 Liebst, 2016