"Walking around the world is important to me, to become inspired by landscape and its different lighting.  Afterwards I use simple methods to create new worlds in my pictures: worlds that can only exist in photography, and that melt into the memorized images of the observer.

These photographs look as though they have been shot from the sky, but they are actually taken only a few centimeters from the ground.  Small cars, houses and plastic trees in the classic model railway format are placed on the beach at the North Sea or in a pile of rubbish or ashes.

The microstructures of the sand are transformed in the eyes of the beholder into great macrostructures of the earth's surface.  Only at the second glance do the discrepancies and the incongruities of the proportions become recognizable.

The photos are made with an analogue large format camera in the free landscape and ultimately they are slightly digitally optimized.  The observer is left with no sense of dimension, and that is the photographic illusion.

The vantage point of my work is always the longing for nature and the mediation thereof.  I want to find the exact point in which people doubt whether it's a model or reality.  In my photographs the world is shown as a model construction set, as a staging with grand gestures in small measure, as a picture and a replica of idyll and catastrophe."         - Thomas Wrede

 

 

THOMAS WREDE

 


1963

born in Iserlohn, Westphalia (Germany)

1985-92

Academy of Fine Arts, Muenster (Germany)

1990

Gueststudent of Dieter Appelt, Berlin and Salzburg (GER/A)

1991-92

Masterdegree at the Academy of Fine Arts, Muenster

 1997-2005

Teaching Assignment for Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts, Muenster

 

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions
 
 

1994

Birds Hang in the Air and Cry / Die Vögel stehen in der Luft und schreien, Wewerka Pavillon, Muenster (GER)
 
 

1998

Im Rauschen des Augenblicks, Karl-Hofer-Award, University of Arts, Berlin (GER)

1999

Magic Worlds - Magic Feelings, Cristinerose Gallery, New York (USA)

2001

Domestic Landscapes, Cristinerose Gallery, New York (USA)

2002

Mondes mystiques - paysages domestiqués, Goethe-Institut Paris  (F)

2003

Strange Paradise, James Nicholson Gallery, San Francisco (USA)

2004

Scope Show New York, solo presentation by Nicholson Gallery, San Francsico (USA)

2005

Adrift, James Nicholson Gallery San Francisco (USA)

2006

Seascapes.Am Meer, Goethe Institut London (GB)

Strange Paradise, Goethe Institut Helsinki  (FIN)

Strange Paradise, Gallery Beck & Eggeling, Duesseldorf (GER)

2007

Hotel California, Dolron & Wrede, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne (GER)

2008

Real Landscapes, Gallery Mike Karstens, Muenster (GER)

Real Landscapes, espacio marte, Mexiko City (MEX)

2009

Picture Worlds, Beck & Eggeling new quarters, Duesseldorf (GER)

Real Landscapes, Photo & Contemporary, Turin (I)

2010

Manhattan Picture Worlds & Domestic Landscapes, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (GER)

Panorama, Galleria Civicia G. Segantini, Arco / Riva del Garda (I)

Anywhere, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Föhr and Kunstraum Syltquelle, Sylt (GER)

2011

Anywhere, Gallery Wagner + Partner, Berlin (GER)

2012

The promised Land, Gallery Beck & Eggeling contemporary, Duesseldorf (GER)

Real Landscapes, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles (USA)

Idyllen und andere Katastrophen, Galerie Mike Karstens, Muenster (GER)

Real Landscapes, Foley Gallery, New York (USA)

 

 

 

Selected Group Exhibitions
 
 
 

1995

The Dead, National Museum of Photographie Bradford (GB)

1997

Mois de la photo: The Dead, Saidye Bronfman Center, Montreal (CND)

1988

Zones of Desire / Reservate der Sehnsucht, Unions Brewery, Dortmund (D)

1999

Newland -   The Landscape in  Contemporary Photography, Wiesbaden  Art Association (D)
 

Art Award by Volksbank and Raiffeisenbank, Sprengel-Museum, Hannover (D)

 

Growing Up Postmodern, University Galleries, Normal State University, Illinios (USA)
 

2000

average - durchschnitt , Goethe-Center, Kapstadt (South Africa)
 
 
 
 

2001

Still / Life , hARTware projekte, Dortmund (D)
 

 

Oh, Europe! National Institut of Photography Rotterdam, (NL)
 

 

Ways of Worldmaking, Muscarnok-Kunsthalle Budapest (H)

 

Paradieses of the Modern Age, Bauhaus Dessau (D)

 

Utopia today? Ludwig-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshaven, (D)
 

2002

Berge / Mountains, Art Association Heidelberg (D)

point of view - landschaften , Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt (D)

The Mountain, Art Association Heidelberg (D)

2003

True Fiction, Municipal Gallery Erlangen and Saarbrueken (D)

2004

Really True! Photography and the Promise of Reality, Ruhrlandmuseum Essen (D)

Tamed Nature / Gezähmte Natur, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlungen, Cottbus (D)
 

2006

„War of the Buttons“, Children and the world of war, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal (D) / Center for Contemporary Art Aarhus (DK) / Landesgalerie Linz (A)

2007

Failed hope, New romanticism in contemporary photography in Germany, Photomonth, Krakau (Pl)

2008

Failed hope / Herbert Gerisch Stiftung, Neumünster

2009

Wonder World. Waiting for a restless Future, Ekaterina Art Foundation, 3rd Moscow Biennale (RUS)

Contemporary Art from Germany and China, Wuhan Museum of Art  (RC)

2010

Landscape without Horizon, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bad Bedburg-Hau (GER)

Open Landscape, Galerie Wagner + Partner (GER)

2011

Maerklin World, Kunsthal Amersfoort (NL)

25 years! Henri Nannen collection and guests, Kunsthalle Emden (GER)

The Detour of the Real, Seoul Photo Festival 2011, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul (KR)

2012

International Month of Photography, Berlin (GER)

 

 

 

Selected Publications

 

Solo Catalogues

 
   
   
   
   
   

2000

Magic Worlds, texts by Klaus Honnef, Isabel Mundry, Salon Verlag, Cologne


2005

Strange Paradise, texts by Cristoph Schaden and Rainer Danne, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld

2007

Hotel California, Dolron & Wrede, published by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Hirmer Verlag, Munich

2009

Manhattan / Picture Worlds, texts: Marshall Berman, Christoph Schaden, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld

2010

Panorama, texts: Paola Giacomoni, Giovanna Nicoletti, Galleria Civicia G. Segantini, Arco / Riva del Garda

Anywhere, texts: Thorsten Sadowsky, Nicola C. Heuwinkel, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Selected Scholarships and Awards

 
   
   
   

 

 

1997

1999/2000

2002

 

 

Karl Hofer Award of the University of Arts, Berlin

DG-Bank Photoaward at the Art Award by the German Volksbank and Raiffeisenbank, Frankfurt

 Photo Award Wiesbaden