Published 04/09/2018 | Updated 04/12/2018
If you still have courage, thank god and be content.
In my artworks I work with the patina at the back of our minds of our ideological heritage, which often contradicts our conscious understanding. I am interested in how we succeed in reaching the border area between seriousness and irony, between critical analysis and naive worship.
I often use old material, for example, a frame, or found, mostly trivial images, and I also give new materials the appearance of being old and authentic...
In my artworks I work with the patina at the back of our minds of our ideological heritage, which often contradicts our conscious understanding. I am interested in how we succeed in reaching the border area between seriousness and irony, between critical analysis and naive worship.
I often use old material, for example, a frame, or found, mostly trivial images, and I also give new materials the appearance of being old and authentic although this cannot possibly be the case. The unclear threshold for the viewer between new and old is intended. Because the things we consider authentic, are above all, the things that we imagine to be so. The motives I use are types of pictures which are in the collective memory of our society, so that the viewer can relate their internal images to those in my artworks.
To see more of Thomas Behlings artwork, please visit his website www.thomas-behling.de
"Bessere Zeiten dämmern" – "Better times loom", 2016, printed foil, glass, cardboard, frame, LEDs, plywood, fly net 92 x 72 x 16 cm
"We got the power. We make a brave new world!", 2017, acrylic, sand, putty, canvas, frame, 143 x 107 cm
"Großes Erscheinungswölkchen" - "Big Epiphany cloud", 2012, wood, rigid foam, putty, acrylic, glass, plexiglas, cardboard, light bulb, plastic spruces for model railway, 96 x 43 x 24 cm
"Deutsche Kolonien" – "German colonies", 2016, fruit stickers from all over the world on the pages of a historical album for stamps of German colonies, clip frame 31 x 23 cm
"DU-Munition (Genesis 3, 1991 - 2003)", 2016, wood, glass, verre églosmisé printing, plastic, metal, acrylic, LEDs, dates, food moths, 151 x 57 x 29 cm
"Selbsterkenntnis" – "Self-knowledge", 2016, wood, glass, mirrors, acrylic, fabric 85 x 47 x 47 cm
"Schrein" – "shrine", 2012, rigid foam, putty, nails, ceramic, wood, glass, artificial flowers, dirt, rusty can, acrylic, glimmer, iridescent pigments, 61 x 51 x 17 cm
"First Morning", 2015, hard polystyrene foam, spackle, acrylic paint, lacquer, glass, 3d print, dust, 54 x 45 x 13 cm
"Weitsicht"– "Foresight", 2017, fluorescent paint, acrylic, photography, cardboard, glass, frame, 65 x 55 cm
"We got the power. We make a brave new world!" II, 2017, acrylic, iridescent pigments, hardboard, iron, 124 x 104 cm
"Don't look back!", 2017, plastic, hardboard, plexiglass, printed foil, fabric, plaster, rigid foam, soft foam, metal, wood, LEDs, speakers, acrylic, 141 x 166 x 43 cm
"Bootsfahrt" - "boat trip", 2011, wood, hardboard, cardboard, art reproduction, acrylic and lacquer paint, glass, LEDs, controller, mess of electronic componets, china paper, mosquito netting, 66 x 54 x 16 cm
EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2018
"Hinter den Wolken kommt auch noch was", Kunstverein Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
"Das Rückspiegeleiland", Kunstraum Neureut, Karlsruhe, Germany
"Behling bräunt ideal", Montagehalle, Berlin, Germany
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GROUP
2018
„Eine Enzyklopädie des Zarten“, curated by Anne Brannys, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany
"Jenseits von Beeten – Begehungen 2018", Begehungen, Chemnitz, Germany
"Federn gelassen – der Vogel in der aktuellen Kunst", curated by Jens Andres, Kunstraum Neureut, Karlsruhe, Germany
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EDUCATION (detailed)
1999 - 2001, FH Ottersberg, Germany, class of Hermanus Westendorp
2001 - 2006, HfK – University of the Arts Bremen, Germany, class of Yuji Takeoka
2006, "Meisterschüler" of Yuji Takeoka
For more information and inquiries about this artist, please contact Artitious by emailing to artist@artitious.com
