Thomas Schindler
born 2.3.1959 in Braunschweig
1978 studies painting at the HBK Braunschweig with Hermann Albert and Peter Voigt
1982 moves to Berlin
lives and works in Berlin-Falkensee
Thomas Schindler belongs to an important painterly movement in Berlin, that set itself the aim to renew figuration with metaphorical imagry, as represented in the past by artists liek de Chirico, the neo-classical Picasso, the flamish Permeke, as well as the Expressionist German movement of the first decade of the 20th century and German Neue Sachlichkeit of the 30ies.
His early work is a dialogue with liee in an enclosed city and the freedom within its borders, as well as an expression of a paradox intellectual situation within a free city that was surrounded by dictatorship. While at that time he was still in a dialogue with the art of the first half of the 20th century, Schindler develops a new metaphorical language in the 90ies after the wall came down. Other modern themes become important to hi, especially the issue of free expression of thoughtm as represented by the French artist Fernand Leger and the American artist Adolphe Gottlieb.
During the cold war figuration was represented by Stalinistic views of the arts, while abstraction was thought to be the expression of the modern Western world. In Berlin, where figuration in the first decades of the 20th century had proven to be the expression of modern thoughts, many artists in the late 70ies and 80ies started to rediscover the possibilities of figuration. However, when the wall came down, the fight between figuraton and abstraction became all of a sudden obsolete. As a result, Schindler's images became ballanced between abstraction and figuration in the 90ies and following years. It is interesting to remark, that this development is as well shared by the latest discoveries of neuroscientists, who observe that the human brain shifts between abstract and figurative imagery to reflect upon its perceptions.
Exhibitions ( selection)
1981 Gruppe Weißes Pferd, Hannover
1983 Raab Galerie, Berlin
1984 Sharpe Gallery, New York »Neue Malerei, Berlin, Kästner Gesellschaft, Hannover Galerie Holtmann, Köln
1985 Schlesinger Gallery, New York Edward Totah Gallery, London Studio d'Arte Contemporanea Cannaviello, Mailand
1986 Bransten Gallery, San Francisco Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer, New York ,»Momente zum Thema Urbanität,« Kunstverein Braunschweig
1988»In Berlin«, Kunstverein Lingen »Contaminazione«, Galleria Civica d'Arte Contemporanea, Termoli 1989 Galerie Pascal Lucas, Valencia Galerie von Vertes, München »German Artists« , Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal Raab Galerie London CITAC Deputacion de Valencia Galerie Birtschansky, Paris, Kunstverein Lingen
1989 »I nuovi ordinarori«, Piramide de Arte Contemporanea, Florenz, Raab Gallery, London, Galerie von Vertes, München
1990 Raab Galerie Berlin
1992 Galerie Birtschansky, Paris
1993 Galerie Pascal Lucas, Valencia
1994 Galerie Oksana Uterstädt, Berlin, Galerie Birtschansky, Paris
1995 Memento Mori, Galerie Parzival, Berlin, Premier Salon International d'Art Contemporain, Strasbourg
1996 Galerie Burkard Eickelmann, Essen
2000 Raab Galerie Berlin
2001 Galerie Brockstedt, Berlin
2002 Raab Galerie Berlin