In his works, Thomas Arnolds explores central questions of painting, playing with principles of repetition and variation, reduction and redundancy, accumulation and concentration. Parts, either blurred or finely painted, often contrast with other distinctive gestures. Materiality, surface, and structure are the leading parameters in Arnolds’s investigation of painterly processes. While he creates plasticity through impasto paint application, in his two-dimensional oil paintings, he negates central perspective and therefore spatial representation. At the same time Arnolds also always understands painting as a site of confrontation.
After exploring painterly concerns in his early years using the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, as his "kitchen paintings" exemplify, the artist eventually expanded his palette and experimented with these in monochromatic works, e.g. in white, nude-colored, and blue. Aspects of the symbolism of colors interest him as much as metaphysical phenomena. Arnolds demonstrates a variety of motifs, including not only interiors, everyday-objects, or bonsai arrangements, but also architectural subjects – whether in the form of Clinker brick Expressionisms or column bases, the latter relating to the classical order of columns and its neoclassical references, thereby revealing moments of inflection, bending, and stretching. One thing is certain: in his painterly exploration of nature, culture, and architecture, Arnolds creates his own blueprint.
Thomas Arnolds (born 1975 in Geilenkirchen, lives and works in Cologne) initially completed an apprenticeship as a mason and sculptor before studying under Walter Dahn at the Braunschweig University of Art. Apart from solo shows at the Kunstverein Reutlingen or at the Leopold-Hoesch Museum in Düren, works by Arnolds have been shown internationally, including in cities, such as Los Angeles, Beirut, and Dubai. His work can be found in prestigious collections, such as the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Düren, and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, where Arnolds has previously exhibited.
Press
Thomas Arnolds, Larissa Kikol, Markus Mascher and Carolin Scharpff-Striebich, DISTANZ Verlag GmbH, 2020Vita
1975
Thomas Arnolds is born in Geilenkirchen
(lives and works in Cologne)
1994—1997
Apprenticeship stonemason and stonesculptor
1997—1999
Ecclesiastical conservation of Bistum Diocese Aachen
2001—2006
Braunschweig University of Art, Brunswick (Prof. Walter Dahn)
2006
Founded F.Y.W. with Tim Berresheim and Christian Collmer
Selected Solo Shows
2023
RUN ( Frühstück) – Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg
2022
Thomas Arnolds | Imi Knoebel, Friedrichs Foundation, Weidingen
2021
RUN (Protokoll) – Paul Schönewald, Dusseldorf
RUN (light) – Nosbaum Reding, Brussels
RUN (Disegno und Color) - Klemm’s, Berlin
2020
Duo Show (with Mathias Schaufler) – ak RAUM, Cologne
Thomas Arnolds (with André Butzer), Livie Fine Art, Zurich
2019
You'll ever walk alone – Künstlerverein Malkasten, Dusseldorf
Augmented Bonsai (Painting) – Nosbaum Reding, Luxemburg
Ort und Hall (Place and Echo) – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
Climb the horse and run (with Wolfgang Voegele) – Magasin Lotus, Copenhagen
2018
Thomas Arnolds. Duktusinduziert – Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren (cat.)
Thomas Arnolds. Double Sunday (red or blue) – AK-Raum, Cologne
RUN, Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
High and Safe – Kunstverein Heppenheim, Heppenheim
2017
Lufthaus – ak-Raum, Cologne
2016
MARB7 – Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
Thomas Arnolds – Galerie Jahn Baaderstrasse, Munich (cat.)
2014
Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen (cat.)
2013
Peng – Regina Sprüth, Cologne
Luft#1 – Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
2011
Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne (cat.)
2010
Papier / Öl / Luft – Gloria, Berlin (cat.)
Rausspazieren – Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
2009
Spazieren (International) – Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Amsterdam
Boddy und Snake: Wonderful Life (with Tim Berresheim) – Jagla, Cologne
2007
Klinkerexpressionismus – Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne (cat.)
Ich mach klar Schiff – F.Y.W., Cologne (Kat.)
Selected Group Shows
2024
"daß die Göttin nicht himmelwärts, sondern herab nach ihren Freunden blick" – Secci Gallery, Florence
2023
Never enough – Schönewald Fine Arts, Berlin
Die Welt ist noch auf einen Abend mein – Galería Ehrhardt Flórez, Madrid
2022
The most dangerous game – Spurs Gallery, Beijing Summer Exhibition, Part I – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
2020
Don’t (Part I: Don’t Forget Your Mask) – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
Echo Chambers, curated by Christian Malycha – Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt (Main)
2019
Some Trees – Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles
Cinque Stagioni – Kunsthaus Essen, Essen
2018
40+10+1 – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
Trance, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut
Geheimnis der Dinge. Malstücke (curated by Hartmut Neumann), Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf
2017
Re-vison – Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
Back to the shack, Meliksetian – Briggs, Los Angeles
Selvskabt Modvind – Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen
Thomas Arnolds, André Butzer, Daniel Mendel-Black – Galerie Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne
Berlin–Klondyke – UGM Studios, Slovenija
PLAN VIEW – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
2016
Der Funke soll in Dir sein (curated by André Butzer), Salon Dahlmann, Berlin
Papier – ak Raum, Cologne
Schau 3 – Kunsthaus Kollitsch, Klagenfurt
Surface as Interface as Surface – Carbon 12, Dubai
2015
The 1st Berlin Edition by Berlin-Klondyke, Salon Dahlmann, Berlin
2014
17 abstract paintings – Wertheim, Cologne
Wo ist hier#1: Malerei und Gegenwart – Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen (cat.)
In der Wohnung – Alte Fabrik, Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Rapperswil (cat.)
Bien Merci // Stand der Dinge – Wertheim, Cologne
Fürchtet Euch nicht! Bestimmung des Feldes zu einer gegebenen Zeit: Malerei nach 2000 – Neue Galerie, Gladbeck
2013
A bis W – Q.H.S.O.I.Q.O.C.M.S., Berlin
Berlin-Klondyke – Spinnerei, Leipzig; Hipphalle, Gmunden
2012
There is…Reflections from a damaged life? – b-05, Montabaur (cat.)
Berlin-Klondyke – Neuer Pfaffenhofener Kunstverein, Pfaffenhofen
2011
Abstraktion – Sammlung Oehmen / Sammlung Bergmeier, Kunstsaele, Berlin
Dormition – Galerija Contra, Koper
Diktatur Charlottenburg – Kosmetiksalon Babette, Berlin
Berlin-Klondyke – Klondike Institute of Art & Culture, Dawson City
Papierarbeiten – Jagla, Cologne
2010
Der Westen leuchtet – Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn (cat.)
La Grande Dimension – Walzwerk, Dusseldorf
Crefelder Gesellschaft für Venezianische Malerei – Galerie Börgmann, Krefeld (cat.)
2009
De Nieuwste Collectie – Museum Bojimans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
F.Y.W. 573 km – Montgomery, Berlin
Up & down (W.T.F) Neue Arbeiten – F.Y.W. Cologne
2008
My Generation – Patrick Painter Inc. / Peres Projects / Reiner Opoku, Cologne
Regarding Dusseldorf – 701, Dusseldorf
2007
bye, bye Acapulco – Acapulco, Dusseldorf
Institut für zeitgenössische Beobachtung, Vienna
Tonskulpturen – F.Y.W., Cologne (cat.)
