Florian Thomas / Etel Adnan
FLORIAN THOMAS
time after time
ETEL ADNAN
new works
November 11, 2021 – January 22, 2022
hamburg
Intro
FLORIAN THOMAS (*1966, lives and works in Munich): A woman, blinded by the sun, poses next to an African head statue; a girl rides a hippo; an oversized cat majestically sits against a pink background; street scenes, cars, animals, people... the subjects in Thomas’ paintings reveal their origins: postcards, personal pictures, analog photos, or digital ones found on the internet. They become templates for the artist’s paintings, and not only do they supply him with subjects and themes, but he also details the artificiality of the image, consequently revisiting the old debate on the respective attributes of paintings and photography.
FLORIAN THOMAS: time after time
Executed with great precision, the paintings oscillate between representationalism and abstraction. While most of the exhibited works are committed to figuration, the artist's most recent formal expression focuses on the use of opposing movements in a single work, merrily mixing abstraction, and figuration.
Image
Image
Image
The paintings reflect the spirit of times, the behavior of people, their relationship to objects and nature: the monumental painting Lu-Fu from 2021 celebrates its subject-cat’s natural beauty. But at the same time, it hints at people's treatment of animals, and the entertainment aspect of the presentation of possessions.
Image
Florian Thomas, Lu-Fu, 2021, 230x170 cm, Exhibition view Sfeir-Semler Gallery 2021
Thomas also touches on the theme of restitution with ironic detachment: the painting time after time from 2021 is based on a tourist photograph, and reflects on numerous appropriations throughout the African continent.
Image
Florian Thomas, time after time, 2021, 170x240 cm, Exhibition view Sfeir-Semler Gallery 2021
The variety of formats he uses underscore Thomas' flair for pictorial space and composition. His color universe is vibrant and seductive. Florian Thomas' paintings allow the viewer to speculate over stories, and to get lost in a world that is neither reality nor a representation of it, but a world of images that is one's own.
Image
Florian Thomas, In front of a supermarket, 2021, 190,3x160 cm, Exhibition view Sfeir-Semler Gallery 2021