Dr Matt Wates

I was born in London in 1964. Having worked professionally as a musician for some 30 years, I decided in 2009 to go back to college and pursue my other abiding interest, the history of art. I graduated with a PhD from Bristol in 2019.

I'm researching the relationship of the work of Anselm Kiefer to the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk. The latter was very much denigrated by Theodor Adorno and others, but I believe it has great relevance to much contemporary practice, as in the case of Kiefer. I hope to contribute to the growing body of literature concerned with the concept's rehabilitation.

At Bristol, I have taught the following modules: Realism, German Expressionism, Theorising the Object, The City and Approaches to the Artist.

Published Work

Books: Disorders at the Borders: In Search of the Gesamtkunstwerk in the Paintings of Anselm Kiefer Oxford: Peter Lang 2021

Book Reviews: John Neilson The Inscriptions of Ralph Beyer Crafts Study Centre in association with Lund Humphries, 2021 in 'Forum: Journal of Letter Exchange' No 41 March 2021