Thoralf Knobloch
Encyclopedia
Thoralf Knobloch is a contemporary
German
painter
based in Dresden
. His studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
he completed in 1994 under Prof. Ralf Kerbach. In 2003 Knobloch received the Vattenfall Europe art award. In 2005 he among others represented Germany
at the Prague Biennale. 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.
His works show the ordinary, seemingly trivial moments, observed within the vicinity of the artist, within the 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 seen. 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 observatif 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 does 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
.
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
based in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. His studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts , often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany...
he completed in 1994 under Prof. Ralf Kerbach. In 2003 Knobloch received the Vattenfall Europe art award. In 2005 he among others represented Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at the Prague Biennale. 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.
His works show the ordinary, seemingly trivial moments, observed within the vicinity of the artist, within the familiar streets. Once his attention is attracted, the painter cautiously becomes involved with the motif. Often he returns to vary the focus or perspective
Perspective (visual)
Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
of the seen. Hereby, his sight is distant, neutral, but not without sympathy. The constant review of his and our perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
of what we call reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
adds an observatif 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 does 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
Introspection
Introspection is the self-observation and reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires and sensations. It is a conscious and purposive process relying on thinking, reasoning, and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and, in more spiritual cases, one's soul...
.
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