German artist Thomas Scheibitz astonishes with art
Stefan Dege ct
February 1, 2018
A new exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bonn features some 70 works from the sculptor and painter. In the show Scheibitz displays his cinematic style, playing with form, color and figure — and leaving the viewer torn.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Jens Ziehe
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Thomas Scheibitz: cinematic form and color
From February 1st to April 29th, 70 works by the German artist can be seen at Bonn's Kunstmuseum. The former Biennale artist's latest exhibition is titled "Masterplan\kino" and promises to intrigue visitors.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Atelier Scheibitz
The artist's eye
A strange eye shines out from this wall-sized painting. Geometric patches of color suggest Mondrian. Scheibitz gains our attention as the director, scriptwriter and cinematographer of his art cinema, now on display at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. The artist, who was born in 1968 in Radeberg near Dresden, knows how to surprise.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Atelier Scheibitz
'Twenty-first century cubism'
Scheibitz's painting "Flatland" (pictured), like many of his works, is cheerfully colorful. But the artist also populates his sculptures and paintings with diverse references to contemporary art and art history through the use of geometric and architectural forms. The prestigious London Saatchi Gallery described it as "twenty-first century cubism."
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Atelier Scheibitz
Cultural collage
For years Scheibitz has collected fashion magazines, art books, garden catalogs, album covers and even hardware store advertisements. He therefore draws his wealth of color and form from an almost inexhaustible pool, rearranging these elements to create unique mixed-media works like "SSW" (pictured) from 2017.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Atelier Scheibitz
Director and usher
Red, white and blue triangles circle Scheibitz's '"Cross and Valley" from 2008. The mixed-media wall sculpture extends the artist's culturally rich art into the three dimensions with its shadow-casting cross that has a bizarre and explosive dynamic. In the Scheibitz cinema, the artist is both the director and usher.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Jens Ziehe
Scheibitz in the Kunstmuseum Bonn
Around 70 works by the East German painter are on show in the new exhibition "Masterplan\kino" at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. Many of the themes might be recognizable to viewers. But some ideas can puzzle. Thomas Scheibitz constantly plays with color and form, working as a deconstructor as well as a collagist. The Bonn exhibition continues through April 29, 2018.
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/At
elier Scheibitz
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An enormous eye is transfixed on the visitor. Thomas Scheibitz has painted it as the sole motif on this large-scale image, bordered by geometric figures that recall the abstract artist Mondrian. His art has a cinematic quality, and anyone who takes a seat in the viewer's chair has a lot to reckon with — object and abstraction, remembrance and rejection, old and new.
Scheibitz, born in 1968 in Radeberg near Dresden, knows how to surprise. He plays with color and form, acting as well as deconstructionist, collagist, and concrete writer. In his artistic cinema, he is author, cameraman, director and ticket collector and usher — all at once. Welcome to the show!
Scheibitz' 'Can' draws on basic forms from the scenery of everyday lifeImage: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Jens
Motifs straight out of a design toolkit
Around 70 of his works finished from 1995 onward are now on display at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn in an exhibition entitled "Masterplan\kino" ("Master plan\cinema"). Scheibitz completed around half the exhibited works specifically for the show. The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Wilhelm-Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, and it moves between the poles of painting and sculpture, balancing figuration and abstraction. The line between admiration and incomprehension is narrow, as Scheibitz already experienced during his first major international appearance — in the 2005 German pavilion at the Venice Art Bienniale.
Scheibitz also attended the 2013 Venice Art BiennaleImage: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Hörhager
Scheibitz's paintings and sculptures quote geometric shapes, alternating between bright colors and dark pastels. They gather shadows, use letters and punctuation marks, integrate cloud formations or even architectural elements. The motifs of the artist, taken from fashion magazines, art books, garden catalogs, hardware store advertisements or album covers, appear to have come out of a modern design toolkit. They are pieces of scenery from the present and the history of art that he sets anew through his work.
Scheibitz leaves his moviegoers astonished — rubbing their eyes, as irritated as they are amazed.
"Masterplan\kino" runs at the Kunstmuseum Bonn from February 1 through April 29, 2018.
