Thomas Grundmann (artist)

Thomas Grundmann (* 1970 in Cologne ) is a German artist and tattoo artist .

Life

Born in Cologne in 1991, he started studying graphic art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . However, he broke off his studies after just two days and completed an apprenticeship as a tattoo artist in a Cologne tattoo studio, as he was looking for a technical training that the art course did not seem to offer him. His work as a tattoo artist brought him closer to artistic reduction and concentration on symbolism, which would later also characterize his other artistic work. After taking part in various exhibitions as a painter as early as 1992, publications on the subject of tattoos and art in various specialist magazines followed in 1996 . He continues to work as a tattoo artist in Cologne and Essen.

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Grundmann's artistic work includes oil paintings, works on paper, collages and photos. He himself sees his artistic activity as a contemplative balance to the “pool of arbitrariness” of motifs that he has to engrave as a tattoo artist . His painterly work is characterized by figurative symbols that he takes from the iconographic cosmos of the tattoo scene. He mixes symbols from the themes of sexuality, violence, politics, comics and religion and creates colorful collages with new ironic to cynical meanings. Among other things , his oil painting Who tattooed Heinrich Himmler (2005) shows the aforementioned Heinrich Himmler with the reverse carved word CUNT in front of a stylized imperial eagle with swastika amid common tattoo symbols (skull, snake, dagger). His oil painting Celebrity (2006) shows Adolf Hitler surrounded by ornamental flowers and with a goofy figure peeking out from behind his lapel . His oil painting True Love (2006) shows the suicide of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun in a comic style . His works on paper are made with ink, acrylic, watercolors or chalk and without exception in black and white and are based on the common design practice of tattoo artists. Grundmann summarizes his collages in series like Bad Collages or Mein Gott, these are the girls of the old brigade . His photo work often has a very personal character, such as the series Suicides , in which he staged himself in suicide scenes, or the series Self-in-Love Stuff , in which he portrayed himself as a king or angel.

Grundmann's artistic exploration of tattoo motifs gave Stephanie Dathe, director of the Museum Villa Rot , the inspiration for the razor-sharp exhibition in 2013, which included works by Grundmann.

Exhibitions (selection)

• Symbols , Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne 1999
• The last, the very last , XX Cologne 2002
• Haut , Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne 2003
• Cross-section , Cologne City Museum , Cologne 2003
• The temptation of St. Anthony , Antonier Museum , Memmingen 2006
• Dance with the Dance of Death , Museum for Sepulchral Culture , Kassel 2007
• razor sharp , Museum Villa Rot , Burgrieden 2013

literature

• Thomas Grundmann: Killing Philistines! , Cat. Cologne, Cologne 2006

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview with Thomas Grundmann in JNC Magazin, July 2008.
2. ↑ Friedhelm Mennekes: I hear better when I paint. About the non-objective meditations of Thomas Grundmann . In: Thomas Grundmann: Killing Philistines! , Cat. Köln, Köln 2006, pp. 27–30.
3. ↑ Tattoos in Art. In: Schwäbische Zeitung of March 22, 2013.

Web links

• Interview with Thomas Grundmann in JNC Magazin, July 2008