Exhibitions

Publications

I think it was Moravia who said that he would rather be a painter than a man of letters and that shapes and colours are preferable to struggling with words. Personally, I am neither a painter nor a man of letters, and I am not sure that I agree.But it is on shapes and colours I would like to dwell. Using words to describe them, as one would expect, and to say that the latest direction taken by TH. is a natural abstractism. My initial thought is that I would like to contrast it with different explanations and plausible concepts, but I guess that I am not in the mood for that. Really, I think it is better to look at this selection of paintings like as if looking at the formation of crystals or at a microscope enlargement. These can certainly have scientific, rational or con- ceptual explanations but they are primarily and rightfully beautiful in a childlike way.We choose what to wear without necessarily thinking who designed the garment in question, or how it was made, but instead looking for some aesthetic requisites. I believe that we should look at contemporary art using the same parameters, that is, without learning first who the artist is and what the artwork represents. If the garment ultimately has the purpose of making us look wealthy or feeling younger, slimmer, more stylish and original, we take an interest in it only if we like it.What do I care if the designer’s aim was to pay homage to another designer? If I do not like the result it is only after having observed the product with my eyes that I would want to know about its background. Without filling up the mere object with words.The abstractism of these works does not depict reality in a recognis- able manner, but creates a separate reality that integrates itself with the surrounding one. Just like in the real world juxtapositions of shapes and colours can create either beauty, lyricism or dissonance. The world made up of shapes and colours. This is what one has to take in, without looking much further.The use of pastels creates a sticky softness that reminds me every time of fur, to stay in the realm of nature, of the spots that my cat has on his coat, or of the reflexes on his shiny fur. It makes me think about how superfluous it is to add meanings to a thing that is in itself sufficient and should hence be left as it is and just ad- mired or maybe touched. And my poor cat is just black and white without any dash of bright colours like the ones used in these art- works. Up until now I have however never held this against him. The bright and metallic colours are a bit remindful of graffiti art but immediately set themselves apart from it because of the material, a degradable pastel, and the surface, classic canvas.The depicted subjects change according to the eye of the observer and evoke the colours of the plumage of the most wonderful birds of paradise. They show off only for survival and are thus aesthetes without a purpose, except for the vile and noble aim of reproduc- tion. The courtship ritual of these birds perfectly exemplifies the battle of shapes and colours, which become abstract for worldly and necessary purposes.In the same way the Thaumoctopus Mimicus, the mimic octopus, is able to quickly change form, colour and behaviour and can thus avoid becoming a prey. It changes while keeping its identity intact, unknowing that it is a spectacle for those who observe it with the purpose of
catching a glimpse of its strange and natural beauty. We love to gaze at fishes that look like rocks, octopuses in the shape of sponges, birds in the form of flowers and insects that can be mistaken for branch- es simply because we like to know if we can identify the actual object (or animal) of observation and recognise it for what it is.It is possible to discern the realism of what is represented, always keeping in mind that nature is invariably more abstract than art.What I would like people to see in TH.’s works is merely this. The forms and colours he chooses change from time to time, from canvas to canvas, yet, despite being ever changing, they maintain clearly visible common features. It would be great to think that he does this following his instincts, out of necessity, because he can do it and it comes natural to him. In each painting we can observe the movement of his thought; the process that leads him to erase the shapes that remain trapped under other shapes and that reveal echoes and paths of his mind.I know TH. personally and I know, in depth, about his artistic journey. Looking at his professional experiences and his collab- orations, basically looking at the combination of his CV and his personal interests, it is easy to imagine the genesis of his latest works. But I do not want to dwell on the description of the artist in association with certain experiences while omitting others in order to underline how his career as a graphic designer might have played a particular role in his development. Or whether his stud- ying in a city and with whom or his provenance from a specific area might have played another one. I refer all of these questions to a short biographic note, whose purpose it is to satisfy a free and natural curiosity, but which should not damage or tarnish with details what is already expressed on the canvasses.It seems clear that when Moravia stated his preference for painters over men of letters he did not take the professional journey of the artist into account. The latter is not the easiest of topics, given the heterogeneity of paths that lead artists to define themselves as such and which include trends, avant-gardes, art schools, man- nerisms and contestations. This is however true for both painters and men of letters.The processes that move a street artist are not the same ones that inspire an academic. Yet, there is the same split between the indi- vidual’s artistic and real life. In respect to these paintings, the time spent in the studio is measured by the dust of the pastels that settles on the floor and that TH. gathers. Dust, scraps, dirt are both pleasing to the eye and significant to collect. They are the direct link between the paintings and the man who paints, residuals that do not make it into the painting, that part from it against their wishes and which stay there, confused and static, shapeless except for the shape of the actual work, of the real action.

„Remember that a painting – before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or an anecdote of some sort – is essentially a flat surface covered with colours, put together in a certain order“

(Maurice Denis, 1890).

Claudia A. Sarti

Translated by Alice Riegler

Bio

Thomas Grandi

born 1979 in Bolzano, Italy
Lives and works in Berlin

Education
2011-2013 Academy of Fine Arts, Class of Gianni Dessì, Carrara, IT
1998-2001 Faculty of Design and Art (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano), IT
1993-1998 Art secondary school Bolzano, IT

Solo Exhibitions
2020 CORSO / Berlin Decks, Berlin, DE
2012 Interferenze #1 – Il rilevatore – Der Erheber / Lungomare Gallery, Bolzano, IT
2009 Das große Weihnachtsbackbuch /Ex Aria Art Gallery, Pietrasanta, IT
2007 Der Braten / ArgeKunst, Bolzano, IT

Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Pandemic Healing Arts / Säälchen am Holzmarkt, Berlin, DE
2019 Wohin geht die Reise – Alles ist Wechselwirkung / Künstlerforum Bonn, DE
2019 Info on Books / KINDL Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin, DE
2018 Bis hierher lief´s noch ganz gut / Galerie Zwischenwelt, Berlin, DE
2017 Unwiderruflich vorletzte Vorstellung / Galerie Zwischenwelt, Berlin, DE
2017 IM SACK / Galerie Zwischenwelt, Berlin, DE
2013 Estuario contemporaneo / Cà baicio parco di ripa verde, La Spezia, IT
2012 2 the power of 2 / Uferhallen Wedding, Berlin, IT
2012 Panorama 4 – New art in South Tyrol / Franzensfeste, IT
2011 Su Nero Nero / Castello di Rivara(TO), IT
2011 Aber Glaube / Stadtgalerie Brixen, IT
2008 Villa M. / Casoli (LU), IT
2007 4/4 / Gestalt Gallery – Pietrasanta, IT
2005 Willst du mit mir gehen? / Lungomare Gallery, Bolzano, IT
2003 Biennale di Venezia con FABRICA, IT

Awards
2011 Ufofabrik Award, IT

Selected books & selected press
2018 CORSO 110514 – 240518 /
catalog, South Tyrolean Artists’ Association, Autonomous Province of South Tyrol
2012 Panorama 4 – New art in South Tyrol / catalog, Autonomous Province of South Tyrol
2011 Interview, Artfacts.net
2011 Arbeiten. Lavori in corso. Purchases of works of art, 2008-2011
catalog, Department of German Culture in the field of contemporary art
2010 Art purchases of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano
2008 Filadressa 04 contexts of South Tyrolean literature, Raetia Editori

Public collections
Autonomous Province of Bolzano Collection, IT
2012 Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Collection, IT

Contact

@thgrandi
info@thomasgrandi.com

2018

060118 – 060318
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
210 X 197 CM

160318 – 240518
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
220 X 210 CM

2017

251016 – 090317
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
205 X 247 CM

190117 – 200217
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
216 X 180 CM

260417 – 090617
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
283 X 217 CM

150617 – 210817
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
210 X 220 CM

040917 – 090917
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
220 X 201 CM

031017 – 051217
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
210 X 196 CM

2016

180116 – 200316
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
218 X 195 CM

040216 – 260416
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
219 X 197 CM

280816 – 011016
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
210 X 265 CM

210916 – 291016
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
233 X 218 CM

2015

140215 – 280315
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
186 X 218 CM

200415 – 040715
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
213 X 237 CM

080715 – 280915
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
240 X 219 CM

101015 – 171215
OIL PASTELS AND ACRYLIC
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO E ACRILICO
SU TELA
245 X 185 CM

2014

110514 – 180514
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
336 X 220 CM

200514 – 070614
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
310 X 217 CM

020614 – 270614
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
218 X 288 CM

030914 – 041014
OIL PASTELS ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO SU TELA
220 X 201 CM

131114 – 201214
OIL PASTELS AND SPRAY PAINT
ON CANVAS /
PASTELLI AD OLIO
E VERNICE SPRAY SU TELA
237 X 218 CM