Florian Thomas
25 Jan - 29 Mar 2008
FLORIAN THOMAS
Florian Thomas is an impassionate story-teller. Most of his realistic, photography-based paintings show people: Men and women, children and grown-ups in trivial or also mysterious situations that challenge the viewer to dip into the story. The historic field of reference is the time of the 1950s and 60s, depicted in the car types, the hairstyles, dresses and requisites, but also in the specific colour shades of his paintings, which remind us of old colour reproductions and postcards. Since a couple of years Florian Thomas has favoured extreme oblong image formats emphasizing the artificial character of his carefully composed paintings. The format reminds us of the glimpse we can catch when looking in a rear view mirror or through the slats of a sun-blind and thus questions the voyeuristic character of the viewer ́s gaze.
Florian Thomas is an impassionate story-teller. Most of his realistic, photography-based paintings show people: Men and women, children and grown-ups in trivial or also mysterious situations that challenge the viewer to dip into the story. The historic field of reference is the time of the 1950s and 60s, depicted in the car types, the hairstyles, dresses and requisites, but also in the specific colour shades of his paintings, which remind us of old colour reproductions and postcards. Since a couple of years Florian Thomas has favoured extreme oblong image formats emphasizing the artificial character of his carefully composed paintings. The format reminds us of the glimpse we can catch when looking in a rear view mirror or through the slats of a sun-blind and thus questions the voyeuristic character of the viewer ́s gaze.