Thomas Flechtner

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Thomas Flechtner (born May 1, 1961 in Winterthur , Switzerland ) is a Swiss photographer . He lives and works in Vallière (France) and Zurich (Switzerland).

Career

Thomas Flechtner spent his childhood and school days in Seuzach near Winterthur. He came into contact with professional photography as a school child through an uncle who ran a photo shop in Constance . He completed his training as a photographer at the Ecole d'art appliqué in Vevey . He has been working as a freelance artist since 1987. During his studies in Vevey, Thomas Flechtner took part in the Triennale Internationale de la Photographie in Friborg (Switzerland) and then received the Federal Art Scholarship in 1988, 1990 and 1992 to further promote his work. Since 1987 he has been working as a freelance artist. After various stays abroad, including in London (studio scholarship from the Landis & Gyr Foundation), he received increasing international attention. His first publication (SNOW, 2001, Lars Müller Publishers) met with a great response and subsequently led to exhibitions a. a. in New York, Tokyo and Bilbao.

His partner works as a publicist and author.

Work and work

The photographer Thomas Flechtner works exclusively with analog large format cameras in color with available daylight under the open sky and pursues a special and complex process that is described in SIKART with the following words:

«Thomas Flechtner ... knows how to condense the charisma of the photographed subject compositionally by means of subtle staging interventions and careful selection of the image section. In his landscape shots, Flechtner focuses on both the extensive textures and the small details that get stuck in the beholder's eye. In this way, he creates color and form rhythms in large-format pictures, which often allow the selected natural section to take a backseat in favor of a fascinating visual dynamic. "

«Thomas Flechtner achieved international success for the first time with his Snow Pictures ( Walks , 1998–2001), in which he combined photography with creative intervention in the landscape. In high alpine snow slopes, he took a great deal of time to create minute tracks and fixed the modeled panorama with the camera in changing light conditions. "

Flechtner's flower pictures, which have been created since 2003 and whose models the artist found partly in his own garden and partly in exotic areas, show the magnificence of flowers and leaves portrayed in an enchantingly abstract way. The multiple overlapping of the plants, the dense arrangements, blurring and strong brightness lead to the dematerialization of the plant bodies in favor of an increase in their color luminosity. "

The artist has published some of his works in illustrated books : Snow (2001), Bloom (2007) and News (2012).

Exhibitions

Public collections

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 2017: For Evergreen , Bildhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2010: Germs , Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2012: Bulbfiction , Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2010: Germs , Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2008: The Box , de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2007: Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2006: Bloom , Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2005: Silent walk , Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
  • 2004: ParisPhoto, Carousel du Louvre, Galerie Blancpain Stepczynski, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2003: Snow , Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London, England
  • 2002: Marianne Boesky / Kennedy Boesky Photographs, New York, USA
  • 2000: Coal Mine Photo Gallery, Winterthur, Switzerland
  • 1999: Center de la Photographie, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 1994: Nikon Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 1992: Scalo, Zurich, Switzerland

Group exhibitions (selection)

  • 2016: Colder / Jours Blancs , Bildhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2015: Night Pictures , Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
  • 2014: Laisser les sons aller où ils vont , Frac Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
  • 2013: Beyond the picture postcard , Galerie Stihl, Waiblingen, Germany
  • 2012: Les amitiés végétales , Saline Royale, cité des Utopies, Arc et Senans, France
  • 2011: On Horizons , Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
  • 2010: CLIMAX REDVX, Bac - Bâtiment d'art contemporain , Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2008: Art is for the Spirit , Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2007: Les Peintres de la vie Moderne - Donation , collection photographique de la Caisse des Dépôts, Center Pompidou, Paris, France
  • 2006: Der Berg , Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2005: Alpine Air, Swiss Artists Inspired by Mountains , Aargauer Kunsthaus, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2004: Interferences , Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2003: Imàgenes en movimiento // Moving Pictures , Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
  • 2002: Der berg , Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany
  • 2001: Analog / Dialog , Solothurn Art Museum, Switzerland
  • 1997: Looking at India , Swiss National Library, Bern, Switzerland
  • 1996: The Eye of the Beholder , Swiss Institute, New York, USA
  • 1991: Découverts , Paris, France
  • 1989: Galerie Stockeregg, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 1985: Triennale Internationale de la Photography, Friborg, Switzerland

Awards

  • 1988: Federal art grant
  • 1989: European Kodak Award , Arles, France
  • 1990: Federal art grant
  • 1991: European Photography Award , Berlin, Germany
  • 1992: Federal art grant
  • 1993: Landis & Gyr Studio, London, England
  • 2004: Photography Award of Canton Neuchâtel , Switzerland
  • 2013: UBS recognition award , Switzerland

Publications

  • See india . Illustrated book, Lars Müller Verlag, Baden 1997, ISBN 3-907044-41-X .
  • Snow . Illustrated book. Lars Müller Verlag, Baden 2001, ISBN 978-3-90707849-5 .
  • Spicegarden . Illustrated book, published by the Canton of Basel Stadt, 2003.
  • Moving Pictures . Catalog. Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2003.
  • Bloom . Illustrated book. Lars Müller Verlag, Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-03778091-6 .
  • True North . Catalog. Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7757-2166-0 .
  • News . Illustrated book. Lars Müller Verlag, Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-03778318-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Gabrielle Obrist: Flechtner, Thomas. In: Sikart (status: 2008), accessed on September 20, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Flechtner, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss photographer
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Winterthur