THOMAS RENTMEISTER - BRAUN/BROWN

THOMAS RENTMEISTER (1964-)

The sculptures created by the Cologne-based artist Thomas Rentmeister, born in 1964, are usually immersed in »appetizing« colours: in chocolate, lightest nougat or a creamy caramel tone. At the same time their corporeal manifestation has a fleeting quality, often emphasized by their peculiar shape that seems to be in the process of melting. »Indeed, the most significant aspect of my highly polished polyester sculptures is their surface. It would be great if I could omit everything below this surface and if the sculptures would just lie around in real space like virtual shells or extremely thin-walled soap bubbles«, states the artist in a description of his works.
The publication in the Cantz series, documenting the artist's first large-scale solo exhibition at Kölnischer Kunstverein in 2001, contains selected works of Thomas Rentmeister, connected by the colour brown in various shades - an ensemble that artfully brings together early works from the 80ies and current approaches to the genre of sculpture.

The artist:
Thomas Rentmeister *1964 in Reken, Westphalia. Studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in the classes of Günther Uecker and Alfonso Hüppi; pupil in the master class of Alfonso Hüppi. Philip Morris grant, Berlin, in 1988/89. Scholarship of the Kunstfonds e.V., Bonn, in 1996. Lecturer at the Kunsthochschule, Kassel, in 1999. Lives and works in Cologne.

Edited by Udo Kittelmann, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, foreword by Udo Kittelmann, texts by Ursula Panhans-Bühler