Thomas Wrede: New Shores
James Nicholson Gallery, New York
February 2 – March 18, 2006
James Nicholson Gallery presents an exhibition of new large-scale color photographs by German artist Thomas Wrede.
Thomas Wrede searches for sanctuary within an environment increasingly subjugated to man’s intrusions upon nature. Thomas Wrede’s desire for asylum amidst chaos sends him seeking refuge in the infinite spaces that seem to hover at the remote edges of the world. Adrift upon endless expanses of beach, snow, and sea, Thomas Wrede renders beautiful the quietude of landscape in large-scale images that lure the viewer into their vastness.
On the beach, Thomas Wrede captures large swaths of sand dotted with people—extremely sharp specks frozen in the kind of detail a medium format camera affords. Devoid of any locating devices, it is as if Thomas Wrede has stumbled upon a community of people that have come in search of the same lost paradise that he too seeks.
On the sea, Thomas Wrede captures individuals wandering in stillness across a seemingly unending marsh plain or standing in shallow water that appears to continue forever. Like those adrift upon land, the wanderers at sea seem without purpose or destination, they are simply at home in this place where they have been frozen in time. The same can be said of the ships that Thomas Wrede photographs at sea. Here, he bends the film plane of his view camera, coaxing impossible depths of field into a single image, transforming gigantic sea-faring specimens into toy-like scenes.
Thomas Wrede is based in Muenster, Germany and has won numerous German photography awards. This exhibition coincides with the publication of Thomas Wrede’s new catalogue, Strange Paradise. He has exhibited at numerous museums and galleries throughout Europe and the U.S.
JAMES NICHOLSON GALLERY
547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001
www.nicholsongallery.com
