Martin Eder  (German, 1968) 

Martin Eder (German, b.1968) is a painter best known for depicting house pets and young girls in a realistic, kitschy style. Born in Ausburg, he studied under Eberhard Bosslet (German, b.1953) at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Like the Contemporary sculptor Jeff Koons (American, b.1955), Eder focuses on the banality of commercial fetishes, but, unlike Koons, Eder conveys an eerie, Surrealist quality in his work. The disturbing, dream-like imagery of Eder’s work is reminiscent of the work of filmmaker and visual artist David Lynch (American, b.1946). Eder creates a world of nightmarish fantasy using saccharine colors and indistinct backgrounds. At the Break of Dawn (2009), for example, depicts a nude woman reclining beside a giant, white, fluffy cat. In Weight, a nude woman’s back is visible, reminiscent of Ingres’ Violin by Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), but here the woman is sitting on a white rabbit. Eder's work has been exhibited at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among other institutions. He lives and works in Berlin.