Art piece of the month: Thomas Raat
Every month curator Virginia Hameleers chooses a work of art from the SCHUNCK Collection that inspires her, fascinates her or occupies her in another way. Art that is too beautiful not to share. In December, the art is by Thomas Raat.
Contemporary visual art often uses very different, surprising or challenging materials. Looking at the SCHUNCK Collection, in addition to pieces in materials such as paint, canvas, paper and ink, one can also find artworks that consist, for example, of materials that are - to a greater extent - at the mercy of decay. Think of shampoo, feathers, aluminum foil, glitter and skai leather as well as various kinds of tape, foil and adhesive plastic, as in the piece Photoshoot (2004) by Thomas Raat.
Thomas Raat Fotoshoot, 2004. Plakplastic en tape op papier. 150 x 183 cm. Collectie SCHUNCK, gemeente Heerlen. Verworven met steun van het Mondriaan Fonds. Fotografie: Peter Cox, Eindhoven
Painting with tape and foil
Raat created the lines, figures and planes in this work by applying different kinds and colors of tape, adhesive plastic and foil layer by layer. In a way, he 'painted' with tape and foil. This type of art dates from the beginning of his artistic career, in which he drew his inspiration from newspaper photographs and television images. Today, his work focuses on the tension between autonomous design and mass production.
Up close, of course, the extraordinary use of materials in this piece of art is best seen. The good thing is that from 26 January it can be viewed in the new, publicly visible Art Depot of SCHUNCK.