Opening August 27: Cornelia Thomsen Solo Exhibition, Unfolding Ratio
Tokyo, Japan, August 27, 2022 --(PR.com)-- √K Contemporary (Root K Contemporary) is proud to host Cornelia Thomsen's solo exhibition, Unfolding Ratio.
Opening on August 27, the artist's 3rd solo exhibition in Japan will present the New York-based German artist's late to early works, from Thomsen's iconic Stripes, to her monochrome GR series and her portraits, which will make their first exhibition in Japan.
Born in East Germany during a period when Realism was the sole aesthetic, Thomsen discovered Abstraction following the unification of East and West Germany. While the artist began her career as a figurative painter, she subsequently pursued abstract modes of expression and developed her representative Stripes series, transforming natural scenes into abstracted, minimalist works.
Although best recognized for her abstract works, Thomsen's recent portrait series marks the artist's return to figuration. In contrast to her early works, this series melds figuration with the "light" present within Thomsen's abstract paintings and offers a novel aesthetic.
In addition to her portraits, Unfolding Ratio will present Thomsen's minimalist black-and-white GR series, her watercolor Garden series, oil on copper works as well as her NFT work, offering a diverse display of Thomsen's multifaceted oeuvre.
Cornelia Thomsen x Luca Scandinavia Collaboration Announcement
To mark this occasion, √K Contemporary will collaborate with the 20th -century Scandinavian furniture and décor specialist, Luca Scandinavia (Tokyo) on a special art co-ordination display.
At √K Contemporary, Thomsen's works will be presented alongside Luca Scandinavia's hand-selected curation of luxury antique furniture. In addition, a curated selection of Thomsen's works will also be on display at Luca Scandinavia from August 27 to September 10.
・Cornelia Thomsen, Unfolding Ratio Special Exhibition
Dates: August 27 (Sat) to September 10 (Sat), 2022
Venue: Luca Scandinavia
Address: 1F, 1-9-6 Chuo-ku Ginza Tokyo Japan 104-0061 *Open 12 pm to 7 pm, closed on Wednesdays
Website: https://www.luca-inc.com/
- Opening dates and times are subject to change. Please be sure to check the Luca Scandinavia website prior to your visit.
Events
Events with the artist are scheduled to be held during the exhibition.
Stay tuned, as details will be released on the √K Contemporary website and social media pages.
Exhibition Website: https://root-k.jp/exhibitions_en/cornelia-thomsen-unfolding-ratio/
Artist Statement
Each of my series, from the abstract Stripes paintings to the Garden watercolors and my recent portraits, meditates on a distinct moment in a complex professional, psychological, and political journey. -Cornelia Thomsen
Artist｜Cornelia Thomsen
Cornelia Thomsen is a contemporary artist living and working in New York since 2006, best known for her abstract paintings. Cornelia Thomsen began her career in 1990 as an artist at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in Meissen near Dresden after a 4-year apprenticeship in the company, where she was trained to paint baroque patterns onto porcelain. In 1994 she moved to Frankfurt where she enrolled in the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Frankfurt. She turned to abstraction and developed her Stripes painting series in 2008 after a subsequent move to New York. The original idea of the series was based on her observation of the ocean, with its fluctuating colors and luminosity. Initially she painted the works in a horizontal format but soon decided to flip the orientation to a vertical format to detach the stripes from their reference to nature. The Stripes paintings consist of vertical bands of irregular widths that reach to the very edges of the canvas. They are a result of subtle differences in width, color and intensity. The Stripes produce a flickering sensation imbuing the overall composition with an optical effect, which is created by using strong contrast of dark and light colors and the juxtaposition of blurred and sharp lines.
The drawings are an intrinsic, if not intimate persuasion of a light that verges on a kind of drifting. The strokes of the ink pen are not punctuated but move quietly, yet intensely, from one area of concentration to another. The result in the larger works on paper is a kind of ephemeral surface and in the smaller ones a more purely abstract composition.
Thomsen’s abstract work is primarily concerned with formal matters and deal with basic questions about color and line. She also engages with postwar German history through figurative paintings, drawings and watercolors. One example is the series Role Models, which consists of paintings of East German officials who were active when she was growing up in East Germany. The Meissen Propaganda Dishes are a cynical look back into her time at the Meissen Manufactory and consist of paper dishes with original Meissen flower decorations combined with ideological slogans. Figurative works are the focus of Thomsen’s work during the past two years and show her interest in psychological studies. With her distinctive body of work Thomsen keeps abstract and figurative work in tension, finding inspiration from the rich history of abstract art and from her upbringing in former East Germany.
Thomsen was born in Rudolstadt in the German Democratic Republic in 1970. After the reunification of Germany she moved to Frankfurt and received BA and MFA degrees from the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Frankfurt, Germany. She currently lives and works in New York City.
Public Collections:
Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, Connecticut
Friedrich Fröbel Museum, Bad Blankenburg, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
Cornelia Thomsen, Unfolding Ratio Exhibition Outline
Dates: August 27 (Sat) to September 24 (Sat), 2022 *Closed on Sun & Mon, Open on Public Holidays
Venue: √K Contemporary
Admission: Free
Exhibition Website: https://root-k.jp/exhibitions_en/cornelia-thomsen-unfolding-ratio/
Organizer: √K Contemporary (Operated by SEI-RIN Co., Ltd.)
Co-Operation: Luca Scandinavia
Support: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Japan
Opening on August 27, the artist's 3rd solo exhibition in Japan will present the New York-based German artist's late to early works, from Thomsen's iconic Stripes, to her monochrome GR series and her portraits, which will make their first exhibition in Japan.
Born in East Germany during a period when Realism was the sole aesthetic, Thomsen discovered Abstraction following the unification of East and West Germany. While the artist began her career as a figurative painter, she subsequently pursued abstract modes of expression and developed her representative Stripes series, transforming natural scenes into abstracted, minimalist works.
Although best recognized for her abstract works, Thomsen's recent portrait series marks the artist's return to figuration. In contrast to her early works, this series melds figuration with the "light" present within Thomsen's abstract paintings and offers a novel aesthetic.
In addition to her portraits, Unfolding Ratio will present Thomsen's minimalist black-and-white GR series, her watercolor Garden series, oil on copper works as well as her NFT work, offering a diverse display of Thomsen's multifaceted oeuvre.
Cornelia Thomsen x Luca Scandinavia Collaboration Announcement
To mark this occasion, √K Contemporary will collaborate with the 20th -century Scandinavian furniture and décor specialist, Luca Scandinavia (Tokyo) on a special art co-ordination display.
At √K Contemporary, Thomsen's works will be presented alongside Luca Scandinavia's hand-selected curation of luxury antique furniture. In addition, a curated selection of Thomsen's works will also be on display at Luca Scandinavia from August 27 to September 10.
・Cornelia Thomsen, Unfolding Ratio Special Exhibition
Dates: August 27 (Sat) to September 10 (Sat), 2022
Venue: Luca Scandinavia
Address: 1F, 1-9-6 Chuo-ku Ginza Tokyo Japan 104-0061 *Open 12 pm to 7 pm, closed on Wednesdays
Website: https://www.luca-inc.com/
- Opening dates and times are subject to change. Please be sure to check the Luca Scandinavia website prior to your visit.
Events
Events with the artist are scheduled to be held during the exhibition.
Stay tuned, as details will be released on the √K Contemporary website and social media pages.
Exhibition Website: https://root-k.jp/exhibitions_en/cornelia-thomsen-unfolding-ratio/
Artist Statement
Each of my series, from the abstract Stripes paintings to the Garden watercolors and my recent portraits, meditates on a distinct moment in a complex professional, psychological, and political journey. -Cornelia Thomsen
Artist｜Cornelia Thomsen
Cornelia Thomsen is a contemporary artist living and working in New York since 2006, best known for her abstract paintings. Cornelia Thomsen began her career in 1990 as an artist at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in Meissen near Dresden after a 4-year apprenticeship in the company, where she was trained to paint baroque patterns onto porcelain. In 1994 she moved to Frankfurt where she enrolled in the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Frankfurt. She turned to abstraction and developed her Stripes painting series in 2008 after a subsequent move to New York. The original idea of the series was based on her observation of the ocean, with its fluctuating colors and luminosity. Initially she painted the works in a horizontal format but soon decided to flip the orientation to a vertical format to detach the stripes from their reference to nature. The Stripes paintings consist of vertical bands of irregular widths that reach to the very edges of the canvas. They are a result of subtle differences in width, color and intensity. The Stripes produce a flickering sensation imbuing the overall composition with an optical effect, which is created by using strong contrast of dark and light colors and the juxtaposition of blurred and sharp lines.
The drawings are an intrinsic, if not intimate persuasion of a light that verges on a kind of drifting. The strokes of the ink pen are not punctuated but move quietly, yet intensely, from one area of concentration to another. The result in the larger works on paper is a kind of ephemeral surface and in the smaller ones a more purely abstract composition.
Thomsen’s abstract work is primarily concerned with formal matters and deal with basic questions about color and line. She also engages with postwar German history through figurative paintings, drawings and watercolors. One example is the series Role Models, which consists of paintings of East German officials who were active when she was growing up in East Germany. The Meissen Propaganda Dishes are a cynical look back into her time at the Meissen Manufactory and consist of paper dishes with original Meissen flower decorations combined with ideological slogans. Figurative works are the focus of Thomsen’s work during the past two years and show her interest in psychological studies. With her distinctive body of work Thomsen keeps abstract and figurative work in tension, finding inspiration from the rich history of abstract art and from her upbringing in former East Germany.
Thomsen was born in Rudolstadt in the German Democratic Republic in 1970. After the reunification of Germany she moved to Frankfurt and received BA and MFA degrees from the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Frankfurt, Germany. She currently lives and works in New York City.
Public Collections:
Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, Connecticut
Friedrich Fröbel Museum, Bad Blankenburg, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
Cornelia Thomsen, Unfolding Ratio Exhibition Outline
Dates: August 27 (Sat) to September 24 (Sat), 2022 *Closed on Sun & Mon, Open on Public Holidays
Venue: √K Contemporary
Admission: Free
Exhibition Website: https://root-k.jp/exhibitions_en/cornelia-thomsen-unfolding-ratio/
Organizer: √K Contemporary (Operated by SEI-RIN Co., Ltd.)
Co-Operation: Luca Scandinavia
Support: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Japan
Contact
SEI-RIN Co., Ltd.
Aisei Tamura & Naoko Watanabe
+81 (0)3-6280-8808
http://root-k.jp/en
√K Contemporary is owned and operated by SEI-RIN Co., Ltd.
Aisei Tamura & Naoko Watanabe
+81 (0)3-6280-8808
http://root-k.jp/en
√K Contemporary is owned and operated by SEI-RIN Co., Ltd.
Contact
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