Thoralf Knobloch (born 1962 in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...

) is a German

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

based in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. In 1994 he completed his studies at the

Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...

under Prof. Ralf Kerbach. In 2003 Knobloch received the Vattenfall Europe art award. In 2005 he among others represented Germany at the

Prague Biennale The Prague Biennale is an international art exhibition in Prague, Czech Republic, held in alternate (odd-numbered) years. It was founded in 2003 by Helena Kontova and Giancarlo Politi. It is supported by the Czech Minister of Culture and the City ...

. Knobloch is represented by Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden/Berlin, and Wilkinson Gallery, London, where his work was exhibited in 2007 at the opening show of the new gallery space.The Daily Telegraph
/ref> His works show ordinary, seemingly trivial moments, observed within the vicinity of the artist and in familiar streets. Once his attention is attracted, the painter cautiously becomes involved with the motif. Often he returns to vary the focus or perspective of the scene. Hereby, his sight is distant, neutral, but not without sympathy. The constant review of his and our perception of what we call reality adds an observative character to his work. This becomes evident especially in works in which Knobloch depicts an identical scene more than once, but from only slightly modified perspectives. The impression of a filmic sequence is generated. Yet, Knobloch’s works do not allow the audience to make up a story, which develops logically according to cause and effect. His works appear to be oddly disconnected, deposed of the temporary. By detracting the scene from a temporal sequence, and by this means from any narrative context, Knobloch directs the perception of the audience onto the artwork itself. In most cases, he puts everyday items in the centre of his work. In doing so, the visible is not deposed of its seemingly vacuity. The power of these works comes from the intense uneventfulness of the seen. The audience is bound to fill the silence with its own memory. Thus Knobloch achieves to evoke poetic associations, and this is where the quality of his works lies. His works are not about subjective experience, but about

reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to: Science and technology * Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon ** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface *** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water ** Signal reflection, in s ...

Solo exhibitions (selected)

*2009 ''Thoralf Knobloch'', Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NY *2009 ''Essen, Trinken, Angeln'', Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Berlin *2008 ''Von Wirklichkeit und Wahrheit'', Sparkasse Essen, Essen *2007 ''Thoralf Knobloch'', Wilkinson Gallery, London *2005 ''regional & saisonal'', Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden *2004 ''Zweifel und Ruhe'', Wilkinson Gallery, London *2003 ''Landpartie und Kuckucksruf'', Galerie Michael Neff, Frankfurt/Main *2003 ''Petit Côte'', Vattenfall Europe, Berlin *2002 ''Streif- & Jagdzüge'', Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden

References

External links

Thoralf Knobloch on ArtFacts.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knobloch, Thoralf Living people 1962 births German artists