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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.

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The brightly colored Plan von Toledo by Thomas Scheibitz
Image: Thomas Scheibitz, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017/Jens Ziehe

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!

Read more: Why Kandinsky chose to make abstract art

Thomas Scheibitz Kanne
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.

Thomas Scheibitz at the 2012 Biennale
Scheibitz also attended the 2013 Venice Art BiennaleImage: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Hörhager

Read more: The unwilling superstar: German painter Gerhard Richter on show in Australia

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.