HAUT KONTAKT
Michael Sailstorfer + Thomas Kratz
Eröffnung: 26 April, 19:00 Uhr
Dauer: 27 April — 15 Mai 2022
Öffnungszeiten: Freitag – Sonntag, 13:00 – 18:00 Uhr
Ein heftiges Atmen, beißender Geruch, ein elektrisches Knistern, Farbe wird zu Material, ihre Töne zu Metaphern, die Natur zur Komplizin.
In der Ausstellung Haut Kontakt untersuchen und verhandeln Michael Sailstorfer und Thomas Kratz Fragen nach dem Leben der Dinge, der Entstehung von Bedeutung und der Grenze zwischen Innen und Außen. Thomas Kratz und Michael Sailstorfer sind schon seit vielen Jahren befreundet, und nun ist es ihre erste Ausstellung, in der die zwei Künstler zusammen ihre Werke präsentieren.
Michael Sailstorfer, 1979 in Deutschland, Studium an der Akademie der Bildenden Künste München und dem Goldsmiths College, London, fordert und erweitert mit seinen Werken den herkömmlichen Skulpturbegriff. In seinen Arbeiten werden leblosen Gegenständen neuer Odem eingehaucht, Relationen vertauscht, der natürliche Lauf der Dinge aufgehoben, die Natur zur Komplizin der Werkschöpfung gemacht. Die dabei entstehende Transformation seiner Arbeiten stimuliert die Sinne seiner Betrachterinnen und löst ein vielschichtiges Spektrum verschiedenster Emotionen aus.
So kriecht bei der Arbeit Tank 1, 2020, der Atem der Kunststoffmaske, welche einst ein Tank war, bis in jede Pore, breitet sich der Benzingeruch in jeden Winkel des Ausstellungsraums, setzt sich fest in Haaren, Kleidung, Erinnerungen. Die Maske als Schutz, als Illusion, als Barriere. Das Phänomen der Pareidolie, welches uns Menschen das Gesicht in Dingen erkennen lässt, vereint sich mit dem mechanischem Atmen des Objekts zu einem zeitgenössischen Deus Ex Machina, unheimlich und bewegend zugleich.
Die Arbeiten von Thomas Kratz, *1972 in Deutschland, Studium an der Hochschule für Gestaltung ZKM in Karlsruhe, an der Akademie der Bildenden Künste in München und am Royal College of Art in London, widmen sich Reflektionen zur Haut und menschlicher Oberfläche. In der Verschmelzung von Interaktion mit Material und Farbe sowie dem thematischen Schwerpunkt des Sujets reichen seine künstlerischen Referenzen bis zu den Meistern der Renaissance, ohne dabei zeitgenössische politische und gesellschaftliche Tradierungen von Sprache und Deutungshoheit aus dem Blick zu verlieren. Was als Serie über Erotik und Verletzlichkeit begann, entwickelte sich so im Verlauf der Jahre zu einer kulturgeschichtlichen und gesellschaftspolitischen Dokumentation über Hauttöne und deren Bedeutungen – die verletzliche Hülle als Reflektionssoberfläche.
Verbunden durch ein gemeinsames Studium sowie eine langjährige Freundschaft begeben sich Kratz und Sailstorfer in den Räumen des SMAC auf eine Suche nach der Membran als Element zwischen Trennung und Verbindung, Anfang und Ende, Schutz und Durchlässigkeit, Vollkommenheit im Unvollkommenen.
Ihre Malereien und Skulpturen umkreisen das Spektrum von zwischenmenschlichen Spannungen, der Verletzlichkeit der menschlichen Hülle und der Schwere, welche sich hinter Masken verbirgt.
Text: Hilka Dirks
PAINTING IS A STATEMENT
Thomas Kratz in conversation with Thomas Thiel
Thomas, since 2007, you have devoted most of your artistic practice to painting, in addition to performance and sculpture. What subject matter have you been working on in the last few years?
The subject matter that you’re talking about—do you mean flowers, nudes, squares, brushes, paint and wall? I have less and less use for the idea of “subject matter”, and the more banal and hackneyed the subjects one puts out there, the more something like the “eternal” shines through. So my work is more about a departure from big subjects and ideas. 2007 was the year it finally sunk in. When it comes to the paintings I make in my studio, or when I’m performing in a pub- lic space, I’ve come to appreciate the moment of “strangeness”—encountering something for- eign—more and more. The more “alien” the object becomes to me, as opposed to ideas and sub-ject matter, the closer I get to it and the longer it stays with me. Ideas and subjects have half-lives, and a “good painting” doesn’t. A “good painting” stays alien.
So does that mean you don’t have any subject matter at all? Isn’t that just a statement?
Yes, you’re right, it is a statement. I love statements. Painting is a statement. The subjects you want me to talk about are motivations for the statement of painting, for what it claims. There’s a connection there between motivation and motif. I have the skin, the head, the smile, whatever is falling or flying. Everyone has his or her motivations. It’s more like giving directions: I paint a head.
Actually, it was more the question of motif. You dedicated a gallery in your Bielefelder Kunstverein exhibition to works from the Head series and your preoccupation with portraiture. What is it about portraits that interests you?
A portrait, a head, is a surface with character. Something, a being, a sign, looks back—looks back from the painting. I think that’s interesting. The whole thing started in 2004 with my Smiley series. With the portraits, the Head series at the Bielefelder Kunstverein, it’s more about the decision to finish the painting, or the point where I stop. Painting a Head ends when something looks back at me.
Unlike the Smiley series, the Head series has a lot to do with the line between abstraction and figuration. You can’t identify them at first glance, either, you can only dimly make out faces. Is this a conscious encryption of motif on your part? A smiley is something very direct in terms of a pictogram, while the Head is not!
Yes, my paintings in the Smiley series are direct; all they need is two dots, a comma and a slash. ☺ The abstract-versus-figurative aspect is less interesting to me. What’s more important is the sign and the interaction that goes on there. The image smiles, and you smile back. It’s so wonderfully disarming. And by the time the intellect has grasped it and the smile starts to grin, you’ve already moved on to the next painting, and the next smile. It’s not about realities for me, but an alphabet of artifice.
You’re not creating a representation of reality—that much is obvious. But from the viewer’s perspective: how important is it for you that a viewer recognize a specific kind of subject matter in the work. Does it matter at all anymore, or would you say painting itself is becoming the subject?
Your question has a re-proachful “art for art’s sake” ring to it. I have no problem with “art for art’s sake” if it’s “good”. But actually it goes beyond that. I can’t answer your question about whether or not painting itself has become my subject and motivation. I paint, so I make “art”. I paint a head, so I paint a head. With that, I’ve already resolved a lot of the questions that have preoccupied painting. I have communicated something within certain parameters and trust my painting. I trust in the fact that viewers are following me without me having to speak directly to them and without making them my primary focus. It sounds easy, but it took a long time to get to that point.
Could you describe your painting process again in more detail? How do you get to the where to now?
It comes down to the question of how much form and subject matter I need to “get by” and do the work, and how much form and subject matter the painting needs to “get by” and function as a painting. That can be a smile, the color of the skin, the look back... The Head series, which is painted on jute cloth, is very delicate. The col- ored ink seems stronger in the weave depending on the amount of light coming through; it’s very vibrant, then it disappears again and you see the dark shadows of the stretcher. The pigment isn’t sitting directly on top of the surface; it’s soaked into the cloth itself. The ink colors the cloth. To work on it, I lay the stretcher flat on the floor and work over the jute with a sponge and paintbrush. After the first coat, I wait until the water evapo- rates, until I can see what I’ve made and before I can react with a new coat. The result reveals itself very slowly and the drying process often takes until the next day.
At this point, I’d like to speak generally about the presentation you’ve chosen for Bielefeld. The exhibition of your other works follows a chronological hanging scheme, but with Sun and Moon, Nude, Head and Relief, you’ve separated these very different bodies of work and juxtaposed them with one another. What influenced your selection and manner of presentation?
All of my bodies of work, from painting to performance, are developed side-by-side but not simultaneously. For my exhibition at the Bielefelder Kunstverein, I divided the individual series into various rooms, so the viewer is led through various situations that he or she can linger and spend time in, but also leave. What interests me about this is the way back, the second encounter. The architecture of the Kunstverein does not allow you to wander all the way around and through the exhibition; in- stead, it has a guided path that leads to a “turn- around room”. I wanted to work with that: with the second look and the backwards movement in the space.
What you’re talking about here is a unity that is broken right at the beginning, I’m thinking of the Checker Pig bicycle installation or the Reliefs in the last room. Would you like to say a few words about that?
I don’t see a break there. The bicycles (Checker Pig) also have something to do with the body, with the desire to stay fit and with the struggle against death. Of course, as an image, Checker Pig is a foreign body. But actually, its construction has to do with the same tran- sience you see in the other paintings on canvas. The parked bicycles give the entire exhibition an
air of instability.
Could you explain your selection again in more detail? Why wasn’t the performance part of the exhibition?
You have to make a decision there. We’ve organized a performance at the Kunsthalle’s sculpture park—which is right across from the Kunsthalle—on the weekend of the opening. I don’t like showing my paintings and performances together; in fact it’s best if the two are never within eyeshot of each other. Next to the static image of a painting, the moving image of performance will win out every time.
Let’s go back to the individual bodies of work. What distinguishes the Sun and Moon series from the Head and Nude series in your eyes?
The Sun and Moon series is the body in the exhibition, while the Head se- ries is the head and the Nude series is the skin. The Nude series represents the unifying element, since the skin is the absolute surface and bound- ary between the self and the other. I find that exciting: the absolute surface of the skin and the absolute surface of the painting.
The vacillation between image and object was already very pronounced in the Nude series, but also in the new Lick Gin series (ongoing since 2011). What interested you about this expansion into relief?
A relief is so beautifully serious and totally underrated as a genre. I think the move into relief is a necessary step for me. The Nude and Lick Gin series are already mov- ing in this direction. But with reliefs, you also have this question about the necessity of form and object: how little would a painting surface need to for it to suffice as a painting, and what else would it require to “get by” without being an object?
How significant is this particular exhibition presentation and the site-specific interventions on the architecture? You brought in your own curtains and painted the walls and surfaces various colors.
The exhibition space at the Bielefelder Kunstverein is architecturally knotty and the opposite of a white cube. So my exhibition dramaturgy worked with incisions, fade-ins and fade-outs, and the “spatialization” of painting.
Going back to this notion of the body: what form of bodily representation were you working with in the Sun and Moon series?
There were exhibition visitors that couldn’t see any bodies in the Sun and Moon. I myself see them of course, because I painted them and I have a hard time letting go of “the seen”. But somehow, one suspects that Sun and Moon has something to do with the body. Then there’s another aspect altogether, namely the real dimensions of the canvas (all approximately 2 x 2 m). The painting surface is laid flat on the floor and gone over with a sponge and brush, so working on the Sun and Moon is actually much more physical than working on Head.
But even the colors of the Sun and Moon series are very much associated with the body, right?
Yeah, that’s true. Maybe that’s the trick.
Why the open-ended title Sun and Moon? Head and Nude seem much more concrete.
The sun and moon are the horizon that my self, my body, can see and un- derstand. Everything else behind it, in front of it and in between can only be read, understood and grasped on an intellectual level.
The sun and the moon are opposites, and at the same time, symbols of unity. So are the siblings Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology, to a certain extent. Why did you incorporate the latter into the Nude series?
That came straight out of the process of making. I myself always had two different paintings in mind: a skin image in the sense of painting, something completely soft and lovely, and another that would leave the brushstrokes hard, without blending them. What remains is the question of how I can get both paintings under one roof, so to speak, and how I can find unity in opposites. Then Apollo’s sister Artemis came to the rescue. Apollo himself and skin are very big topics in art history, especially in painting: Apollo skins the satyrs alive and the painters of history see the paint-brush in his knife.
You talked about the historical significance of representing skin. To what extent do your paintings reflect changed perspectives regarding the body?
The physical definitely comes through in the interaction. I’m less interested in the narrative element, so the sign becomes more important. In a world flooded with images and stimuli, signs have to be very simple and precise. It’s like a samurai—whack!—off with the head—and both smile.
Conversation on the role of the painting among Massimo Mininni and Thomas Kratz
translation by Caterina Antonaci
1) Massimo Mininni: The hosting location of the exhibition is surprisingly exuberant and animated: a stable and a horse riding space which obviously is inhabited by horses and where people who share the love for this animal usually gather. Not to mention the surroundings, which likewise are characterised by a vibrant nature and landscape: how did this choice come about? And which exchanges you believe that can happen between the artworks and the surrounding environment?
Thomas Kratz: Earlier this year I was asked by Giorgio Galotti and Carlo Pratis if I would like to take part in HYPERMAREMMA, a contemporary art exhibition held during the summer in Maremma, South Tuscany. For my participation, Carlo and Giorgio invited me to respond to the stables at ‘La Capanna di Sant’Irma’ in Capalbio, so it was thanks to them that I made a site specific intervention. It was a big challenge to exhibit outside a 'known art space' and to meet an unprepared audience, but I like unexpected situations and at the stables the unexpected situation was the rational. Here I could just work with horses as my new audience. However, during the installation the owners of the farm proposed ideas based on their own expectations. It was their idea to have a yellow wall opposite their restaurant and it made total sense to include this colour in my Colourchart for Horses. I also displayed two more 'traditional' artworks, a chocolate brown relief made out of resin and a sky blue relief made out of ceramic installed adjacent to my Colourchart for Horses. So, finally the intervention became a show for horses and people. A bit like CI (Contact Improvisation).
2) MM: I would like you to tell us something about the specificity of your pictorial processes, let us understand how your formally abstract paintings, can in this occasion, make the viewer live an experience that highly differs from the one usually felt inside art galleries or more in general, inside locations intended for exhibiting art.
TK: What is abstract? I painted a colour chart for horses on the outside walls of the horse stables. Each colour is coating one wall. A monochromatic language. At the location you will find a very bright nude tone. The basis (tint) for mixing skin shades. On the wall next to it you find the pantone colour of the year 2019 (living coral). A ready made colour shade. This colour works as my signature and date for the intervention. The next wall is coated in aluminium pigments. The aluminium shade plays with the sunlight in- situ and contrasts the gold-ochre tones of the landscape around. All those coloured walls are a colour chart. Its placing a precise and non-hierarchical colour system inside and outside the whole farm – just for the horses.
3) MM: Do you think it is possible to define your painting process as a “classical” one?
TK: If 'classical' means 'timeless', my Colourchart for Horses is a classical painting. Colour experience is something timeless as it is touching something next to a rational perception. There is a saying that colour could not only work as a reference, but could also heal and resolve something we had not intended.
4) MM: Do you ever confront yourself with the past?
TK: I think it was Philip Guston who said, that for a good painting you have to send out all the ghosts from your studio and, at its best, you also have left. Studio work is full of ghosts and zombies. Ghosts like Mantegna, Giotto di Bondone and Francisco de Zurbarán, or zombies like Balthus, Emilio Prini and SALVO.
5) MM: Have you had the need to experiment with new and specific techniques in order to realize your paintings?
TK: ’To experiment' is not the right image. One painting is a door for a coming painting. Eventually, the doors guide you through a house, a village, a city and a universe sitting around your head.
6) MM: How has your approach with abstraction developed? Did it evolve from a previous figurative phase or has it been immediate?
TK: I am not interested in abstract versus figurative and figurative versus abstract. All this is not of interest to an artist, it is a political question. I have a hybrid approach to painting. I am also working with performance and as my performances became more colourful, loud and volatile, my paintings became the opposite. It was a long process and is still a vital symbioses.
7) MM: Gerard Richter believes that elegance is suited for the sciences and the mathematics, but not for the arts. Do you think this is true?
TK: I like the writings of Gerhard Richter a lot and I also like his paintings, but there is no accordance between his writings and paintings. I don't have a problem with elegance. He might have been talking about the 'making of art'. When you like to make art, from that moment on you are lost and your work runs away seeking help.
8) MM: Thomas, in realizing your wall paintings you thought about the horse’s ability to perceive colours. Has your chromatic choice been influenced by this?
TK: Yes, it’s a colour chart for horses and its looking for its future potential. Horses have a colour weakness in red and green. They are also long-sighted. Actually, I share those weaknesses with them so I am meeting an 'honest' audience. This was my starting point and the direction of my intervention.
9) MM: Since 1915 when Kazimir Malevič realized ‘Black Square’, fine art has more than once dealt with monochromatic painting, which led to the gradual disappearing of representation and instead favoured the presence of a single tone as the main element. Each artist provides very different interpretations depending also on the specific techniques employed. What is your perspective on this?
TK: I am very happy that Malevič closed the window to the world. From that moment on we could think about painting behind our looking and viewing. I am not sure if there is a mystical or a utopian answer to find in the meaning of Malevič, but at least there is another 'inside' to alter through. Altering and digging via painting.
SOLO EXHIBITION
2022 _Zeichnung, Galerie Margret Biedermann München, DE
2021 _Ice Ice Baby, Projektraum, Massimo de Carlo, Turin, IT
2020 _Lick Gin / Keteleer / Antwerp (BE)
2020 _Sghei / Giorgio Galotti c/o Cà Brutta / Milan (IT)
2019 _Color Chart for Horses / GRGLT / Capalbio, (IT) more
2018 _Thomas Kratz / Deweer Gallery / Otegem (BE)
2017 _Thomas Kratz / Giorgio Galotti (Alley) / Torino Art Week / Turin (IT)
2016 _Salve / Giorgio Galotti / Turin (IT)
2015 _Ahoi! / Deweer Gallery / Otegem (BE)
2013 _Lick Gin (Situations) / Collicaligreggi / Catania (IT)
2012 _Love / Bielefelder Kunstverein / Bielefeld (DE)
2012 _No tracks. No traces. / Croy Nielsen / Berlin (DE)
2010 _Thomas Kratz / Croy Nielsen / Berlin (DE)
2008 _Both (Performance) / Croy Nielsen / Berlin (DE)
2008 _Thomas Kratz / Kate MacGarry / London (GB)
2007 _Licking its Eyeball / Center, Berlin (DE)
2007 _Thomas Kratz / Kunstraum München, Munich (DE)
2006 _Heute Abend, Szofia / Vera Cortês, Lisbon (PT)
2004 _Fou Tchou Li, Parisa Kind, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2004 _Neue Arbeiten ... N°3 (but its hopeless ... N°3) / Parisa Kind, Offenbach (DE)
GROUP EXHIBITION
2023 _How I forgot about the skin of the place, Möglichkeit einer Insel, Berlin, DE
2022 _Bold Art and Commanding Colors Wow in This Milan Adobe, Giorgio Galotti, Milan, IT
2022 _Drei Farben: Blau, Weiss, Rot, Walter Storms, München, DE
2022 _Haut Kontakt, mit Michael Sailstorfer, SMAC Berlin, DE
2020 _BA 2020 NAK, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, DE
2020 _Silenzio, Giorgio Galotti, Turin, IT
2019 _Post Heroic City Walk / Projektraum PA26 / Berlin (DE)
2019 _Nacht und Tag / Gerichtstraße / Berlin (DE)
2019 _Vorschau / Fliegende Bauten / Berlin (DE)
2019 _Just Painting / Deweer Gallery / Otegem (BE)
2018 _History of Line, Milchhof Pavillon, Berlin, BE
2018 _Kaputt / Galerie Ebensperger / Salzburg (AT)
2018 _Severity of a Salty Surge / Barbé Urbain / Gent (BE)
2017 _Inside Out (Outdoor Sculptures) / Deweer Gallery / Otegem, (BE)
2017 _Black & White / Deweer Gallery / Otegem, (BE)
2016 _Modern Talk / Deweer Gallery / Otegem, (BE)
2016 _Kommt Zusammen. / curated by Michael Sailstorfer / Galerie Jahn / Landshut (DE)
2016 _Shift your base 2 / curated by Verena Seibt / Simultanhalle, Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst / Cologne (DE)
2015 _Intro / Giorgio Galotti / Turin (IT)
2015 _Club of Matinée Idolz / CO2 / Turin (IT)
2014 _Dizionario di Pittura / Francesca Minini / Milan (IT)
2014 _Ciao! / Collicaligreggi / Catania (IT)
2014 _The Party / curated by Łucja Waśko-Mandes / Trafo - Center for Contemporary Art / Stettin (PL)
2014 _Bielefeld Contemporary_Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Bielefeld, curated by Thomas Thiel / Bielefelder Kunstverein / Bielefeld (DE)
2014 _Syllabus #1_talking about art and life / Collicaligreggi / Catania (IT)
2014 _Die Antwort der Dinge / curated by Felix Ruhöfer / Lothringer 13 Halle / München (DE)
2013 _Painting Forever! Keilrahmen / curated by Ellen Blumenstein / KW - Institut for Contemporary Art / Berlin (DE)
2013 _The only performance that make it all the way / curated by Christian Egger / KM-Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien / Graz (AT)
2013 _A to B / curated by Gabriele De Santis / Nomas Foundation / Rome (IT)
2013 _Collection Brodbeck / curated Gianluca Collica / Fondazione Brodbeck / Catania (IT)
2013 _Biennale Online / selected by Martin Germann / ART+ / (WWW)
2011 _Portrait of Space / invited by Teresa Gillespie / Clonlea Studios, Co. / Dublin (IE)
2011 _Bild und Träger. Und ein Pfeiler im Park Sanssouci / curated by Hans-Jürgen Hafner / BKV Potsdam e.V. / Potsdam (DE)
2010 _Casa Fantasma / Fluxia / Milan (IT)
2010 _Out Of Joint / Galerie Kamm / Berlin (DE)
2010 _Your Life Needs It / invited by James Iveson / Studio James Iveson / London (GB)
2010 _Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line / curated by Dorothea Jendricke / Malmö Konsthall / Malmö (SE)
2010 _Supernature _ an Exercise in Loads / curated by Rallou Panagiotou / AMP Gallery / Athens (GR)
2010 _The Happy Interval / selected by Tulips & Roses, Vilnius / Croy Nielsen / Berlin (DE)
2009 _Zeichnungen, Skulpturen und Originalgrafiken / Margret Biedermann / Munich (DE)
2009 _Sniper / curated by Daniela Stöppel and Thomas Kratz / Margret Biedermann / Munich (DE)
2008 _Experimenta FOLKLORE / curated by Tobi Maier / Frankfurter Kunstverein / Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2008 _Breakfast in Bed (Anthea Hamilton and Thomas Kratz) / curated by Karl Heinz Rummeny / Parkhaus im Malkastenpark / Düsseldorf (DE)
2008 _behind the window (Günther Förg and Thomas Kratz) / invited by Erich Gantzert-Castrillo / Artemak / Munich (DE)
2008 _Nought to Sixty / curated by Richard Birkett / ICA Institut for Contemporary Art / London (GB)
2008 _After Dark / curated by Guillaume Breton / Louise T Blouin Foundation / London (GB)
2007 _Anthea Hamilton and Thomas Kratz / Mary Mary / Glasgow (GB)
2007 _Na Vidraça Há O Ruído Do Diverso ( about F. Pessoa) / invited by Hugo Canoilas with Jannis Varelas and Thomas Kratz / Fundação Carmona e Costa / Lisbon (PT)
2007 _The Breakfast Club / Haunch of Venison / London (GB)
2007 _True Romance / The Breeder / Athens (GR)
2007 _Ice Trade / curated by Matt Packer / Chelsea Space / London (GB)
2006 _The possibility of beeing real / invited by Kim Nekarda / Autocenter / Berlin (DE)
2006 _I.D.E.A. / curated by Simone Nastac and Jens Hoffmann / ICA Institut for Contemporary Art / London (GB)
2005 _13. Festival International d'Art Video de Casablanca / Goethe Institut de Rabat (MA)
PERFORMANCE
2016 _Colour Blind Cologne: Thomas Kratz / invited by Verena Seibt / Simultanhalle, Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst / Cologne (DE)
2016 _Esc Talk: Thomas Kratz (invited by Fernando Santos Mesquita) / See you next Thursday / Vienna (AT)
2015 _Talking About Art: Martin Germann and Thomas Kratz, Deweer Gallery, Otegem (BE)
2014 _Esc: Thomas Kratz / invited by Łucja Waśko-Mandes / TRAFO / Szczecin, Stettin (PL)
2014 _Colour Blind Munich: Thomas Kratz / invited by Daniela Stöppel / Kunstraum, Verein für aktuelle Kunst und Kritik / Munich (DE)
2013 _Colour Blind Graz: Thomas Kratz / invited by Christian Egger / KM-Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien / Graz (AT)
2012 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Thomas Thiel / Bielefelder Kunstverein / Bielefeld (DE)
2011 _BUTT a picnic: Thomas Kratz / invited by Teresa Gillespie / Clonlea Studios / Dublin, (IR)
2011 _BUTT a picnic: Thomas Kratz / invited by Hans Jürgen Hafner / Kunstverein Potsdam e.V. / Potsdam (DE)
2011 _Star: Thomas Kratz / invited by Ute Müller / Ve.sch / Vienna (AT)
2011 _Star: Thomas Kratz / Galerie Kamm / Berlin (DE)
2011 _Wie ich dem toten Hasen die Bilder erkläre: Thomas Kratz / invited by Moritz Wesseler / Schmela Haus / Düsseldorf (DE)
2010 _Both: Thomas Kratz / invited by Dorothea Jendricke / Malmö Konsthall / Malmö (SE)
2009 _Croy Nielsen, Both, Berlin, DE
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Tobi Maier / Frankfurter Kunstverein / Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / Kate MacGarry / London (GB)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / Organhaus / Chongqing (CN)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Karl Heinz Rummeny / Kunsthalle Düsseldorf / Düsseldorf (DE)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Guillaume Breton / Louise T Blouin Foundation / London (GB)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Richard Birkett / ICA Institut for Contemporary Art, London (GB)
2008 _Strawberry Camouflage: Thomas Kratz / invited by Katharina Schlüter / Caravan / Berlin (DE)
2006 _Wie ich dem toten Hasen die Bilder erkläre: Thomas Kratz / invited by Hugo Canoilas / Vera Cortês / Lisbon (PT)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
TEXT
2013 _The Intimate Stranger / On Thomas Kratz / by Martin Germann / download: pdf_english
2013 _Der mir fremd bleibt / Über Thomas Kratz / von Martin Germann / download: pdf_deutsch
2012 _LOVE: Thomas Kratz / by Thomas Thiel / at Bielefelder Kunstverein / download: pdf_brochure
2012 _Thomas Kratz at Croy Nielsen / Artforum critic' picks by Aaron Bogart / download: pdf
2012 _Thomas Kratz / press release by Simone Neuenschwander / download: pdf_english
2012 _Thomas Kratz / Pressetext von Simone Neuenschwander / download: pdf_deutsch
2010 _Thomas Kratz / by Simon Dybbroe Møller in The Artists' Artist / Artforum, December / download: pdf_møller
2010 _Thomas Kratz (Einblick 341) / by Dominikus Müller / taz, Berlin / download: pdf_taz
2010 _Projekt Wundertüte / by Hans-Jürgen Hafner (deutsch) / artnet magazine (www)
2010 _Thomas Kratz / by Daniela Stöppel (deutsch) / download: pdf_stoeppel
PUBLICATION
2018 _The Illogic of Torino, A Photo Novella (von Ludwig Engel und Joanna Kamm)
2016 _The only performances that make it all the way ... KM- Künstlerhaus Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, ISBN 978-3-95679-396-7
2014 _Painting Forever!, Berlinische Galerie, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, KW
2014 _Institut for Contemporary Art, Neue Nationalgalerie, ISBN 978-3-86206-285-0
2013 _Thomas Kratz, Head, Lick Gin, Nude, 80 pages, English / German, Softcover, 20 x 27 cm, with Mousse Publishing
2012 _Thomas Kratz, Love, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Text: Thomas Thiel 2011
2012 _Thomas, blackpages, Vienna, issue#21
2010 _Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line, Konsthall Malmo
2009 _Nought to Sixty, ICA, London
2008 _Experimenta Folklore, Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-90-8690-224-8
2008 _Rouge, ein Gesprach zwischen Jonathan Carroll und Thomas Kratz, Goethe Institut, Dublin
2007 _AUTOCENTER, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-00-023731-7
2007 _Na Vidraca Ha O Ruido Do Diverso, Fundacao Carmona e Costa, Lisbon
2007_Ice Trade, Chelsea Space, London
AWARDS, RESIDENCE
2016 _Artist in Residence, SoArt, Millstättersee, curated by Edek Bartz, invited by Erwin und Marion Soravia, Vienna
2008 _Artist in Residence, Chongqing, China, invited by Gasworks, London
2007 _Projektstipendium, Erwin und Gisela von Steiner-Stiftung, Munich
2001 _Arbeitsstipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn eV
EDUCATION
2003 – 2005 _MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London
1999 – 2001 _Meisterschüler Prof. Günther Förg, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, München
1995 – 1999 _Diplom Medienkunst New Media Art, Hochschule für Gestaltung | ZKM, Karlsruhe
CONTACT
Keteleer Gallery, Antwerp
Giorgio Galotti, Turin
© 2024 Thomas Kratz : All images by Thomas Kratz. all right reserved, no part of these images may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photo copying, or other-wise, without prior permission in writing from the copyright owner.
