Sunderø Gallery artist Patrick Thomas expresses his opinions and observations of modern society via a carefully honed and masterful manipulation of common signs and symbols. In recent years he has exhibited his limited-edition silkscreens worldwide, at numerous solo and group shows. This week he´s opening a new solo show at Mojäk Galerie in Heilbronn, Germany.
The exhibition as a whole forms a study of the inner relationship between the white surface of the sheet, a given number of repeated patterns, size and colour. Thomas explores how our conception changes by varying them, playing with optical illusions with reference to artists like Victor Vasarely.
In this exhibition, called Zeichnen (Signs), Thomas shows new works. The prints comes forth as a series of patterns, more abstract than his earlier works. The works have a clear reference to optical art, as seen in the sixties.
Optical art was originally an attempt to create the illusion of movement. Vasarely is considered the founder of this art genre, which lends it´s method from scientific investigations of our visual apparatus. The inspiration of his works is found in the German Bauhaus School, De Stijl constructivism and science of perceptual psychology. Most of Vasarely´s works aimed at creating a three-dimensional effect using geometrical abstraction.
Using iconography as method, Thomas refers both to Bauhaus, optic art and the playful, swinging sixties in his works. Thus implying that there is more to these works than meets the eye – just as all his gorgeously screened and conceptually challenging works do.
Mojäk Galerie
Frankfurter Straße 20
74072 Heilbronn, Germany
04.03 – 19.05.2017
Opening: Saturday o4. March 15.00hrs
