Thomas Florschuetz (b. 1957)
Biography
Thomas Florschuetz was born in 1957 in Zwickau, Germany. Florschuetz lives and works in Berlin and is one of the most significant photographers currently working in Germany, with an established reputation both at home and abroad. Thomas has been been especially dedicated to the fragment, bordering abstraction, since the beginning of his work. As a photographer, Thomas is best known for his large-scale montages of images of his body, which he called “early bodyfigures” (1980-1990). In these works, Florschuetz explored his interest in vanity and subjectivity, documenting a sort of performance in which he revealed various parts of himself—hands, feet, and face—to the camera. His work since has focused on capturing a fragmented experience of architectural and natural forms and spaces, playing on the difficulty of perceptual distinction between interior and exterior. And in recent series, he has photographed flowers and airplanes, presenting close-up shots from various angles in combination in an effort to produce a total visual experience of his subjects.
Light plays a major role in his photography and many times, it is from the perspective of light that the subject in his photographs is revealed. “Light is the most important thing in photography, through which i am essentially capturing things in a particular moment of time. And within a few seconds, light can make the same object appear different,” he explains.
Awards
2000 – Artist in Residence, Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, USA
1997 – Förderpreis der Helmut-Kraft-Stiftung, Stuttgart
1994 – Dorothea-von-Stetten-Kunstpreis, Bonn / Stipendium des Kunstfonds e.V., Bonn
1988 – Arbeitsstipendium des Senators für kulturelle Angelegenheiten Berlin / Artist in Residence, Lightwork, Syracuse, New York
1987 – Preis für Junge Europäische Fotografie, Frankfurt/Main
Thomas Florschuetz was born in 1957 in Zwickau, Germany. Florschuetz lives and works in Berlin and is one of the most significant photographers currently working in Germany, with an established reputation both at home and abroad. Thomas has been been especially dedicated to the fragment, bordering abstraction, since the beginning of his work. As a photographer, Thomas is best known for his large-scale montages of images of his body, which he called “early bodyfigures” (1980-1990). In these works, Florschuetz explored his interest in vanity and subjectivity, documenting a sort of performance in which he revealed various parts of himself—hands, feet, and face—to the camera. His work since has focused on capturing a fragmented experience of architectural and natural forms and spaces, playing on the difficulty of perceptual distinction between interior and exterior. And in recent series, he has photographed flowers and airplanes, presenting close-up shots from various angles in combination in an effort to produce a total visual experience of his subjects.
Light plays a major role in his photography and many times, it is from the perspective of light that the subject in his photographs is revealed. “Light is the most important thing in photography, through which i am essentially capturing things in a particular moment of time. And within a few seconds, light can make the same object appear different,” he explains.
Awards
2000 – Artist in Residence, Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, USA
1997 – Förderpreis der Helmut-Kraft-Stiftung, Stuttgart
1994 – Dorothea-von-Stetten-Kunstpreis, Bonn / Stipendium des Kunstfonds e.V., Bonn
1988 – Arbeitsstipendium des Senators für kulturelle Angelegenheiten Berlin / Artist in Residence, Lightwork, Syracuse, New York
1987 – Preis für Junge Europäische Fotografie, Frankfurt/Main