Thomas Rentmeister

This visit is like a déja-vu-tour. Thomas Rentmeister keeps some of his older works in his studio, and one can notice that he must have influenced many younger artists.

In order to preserve some of his art-pieces, storage is a big issue for Thomas. His works are often large and sometimes huge. This might also be the reason he is more often collected and represented - like the Museum Ludwig Köln - by museums than by private...

This visit is like a déja-vu-tour. Thomas Rentmeister keeps some of his older works in his studio, and one can notice that he must have influenced many younger artists.

In order to preserve some of his art-pieces, storage is a big issue for Thomas. His works are often large and sometimes huge. This might also be the reason he is more often collected and represented - like the Museum Ludwig Köln - by museums than by private collections, which increases his acclaim as an artist even more.

At present he is working on another large-scale structure lying in the central space of his studio. “I found it on the studio grounds and I saw the potential to make an art piece out of it”, Thomas explains.
'Working', also means that the piece is just there and Thomas considers – for a longer period – what to do with it. This is a debate between him and the found object, and inspiration comes in stages.
Sometimes he acts immediately, like with the two “Penaten” screen prints. “They were sent back to me like this, pathetically wrapped from a show”, Thomas laughs. “I decided to keep them just like that, as an artwork”.

For a change, Professor Thomas Rentmeister, who teaches at Braunschweig University of Art, often performs as a DJ for his students. “I play Techno Music to them through and through”, Thomas grins, “and they love it!” Yes, he has a very humorous side, sometimes edging on sarcasm.
On his own website www.thomasrentmeister.de, which chronicles all of his works and is as precisely done as no other website, you can see what I mean. Check out the titles as well!

Huge and humorous are not the only apparent attitudes of Thomas Rentmeister and his works. When he showed us an old work-model from 1984 and held it almost like a child, I could also see love, dedication and tenderness…