Thomas Huber (artist)


Thomas Huber is a Swiss artist who lived and worked in Mettmann near Düsseldorf for several years and is currently resident in Berlin.

Biography

From 1977 to 1978 Huber studied at the :de:Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst|Kunstgewerbeschule Basel with Franz Fedier, in 1979 at the Royal College of Art, London, and from 1980 to 1983 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. From 1992 to 1999 he was Professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig and in 1992 interim director of the Centraal Museum, Utrecht. Together with Bogomir Ecker, he initiated and realised the "Künstlermuseum" in 2001, the reconfiguration of the Museum Kunstpalast's collection in Düsseldorf. Between 2000 and 2002 Huber was Chairman of the Deutscher Künstlerbund.

Work

Thomas Huber is an artist who fuses image and text and lectures on his pictures. He realises his conception of the image in various mediums: paintings, aquarelle, drawings, objects, graphic arts, art within architecture, artist lectures, and artists books. For instance, his painting Rede in der Schule depicts the main auditorium in the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
Rather than showing realities in his work, Huber, like an architect, interweaves the picture space with design structures and allows motifs such as diamonds and squares to become a determining element of the work. Accompanying philosophical and poetic texts demonstrate that the picture space is seen as "a meaning space and the picture depth as profundity".
The artist says about his work: "My pictures show spaces. You can see them but you can’t get to them; it is as if they are sealed behind clear glass. The picture is a promise that cannot be honoured, it is a wistful, sad thing."

Awards

Major Exhibitions

The Red Frieze, You Are Here, sad facets, Cabinet of Paintings, Theoretical Paintings I and II, The Peal of the Bells , The Bank, The Library, The Picture Storeroom/Opus, Wedding, The Visit in the Studio, Talk in the School, Talk on Creation, Talk on the Great Flood .

Artist Books (Selection)