Thomas Sch?tte

A single potato chip on a matchbox, larger-than-life figurative sculptures polished to a gleam: Thomas Sch?tte's category-defying oeuvre gives form to the incongruences of the world we inhabit

The D?sseldorf-based sculptor, draftsman, model maker and sometime architect Thomas Sch?tte works in scales ranging from small to monumental. Rooted in minimal and conceptual art, his work addresses history, art history, modes of meaning and how art can function in the world.
Published in conjunction with the first museum retrospective of Sch?tte's work in the United States in over 20 years, this eponymous monograph presents a holistic overview of his career from 1975 to the present. Taking aesthetics, form and history as its focus, the publication features over 100 sculptures, drawings, prints and experiments in architecture, alongside revelatory archival materials. Curator Paulina Pobocha has worked in close collaboration with Sch?tte since 2015, and has had complete access to his archives, as well as the myriad drawings and notebooks still in his possession. Excerpts from these papers are published for the first time in this catalog. Additionally, essays by Pobocha, Jennifer Allen and Andr? Rottmann provide historical and theoretical pathways into the complexity of Sch?tte's oeuvre, and contributions by artists Marlene Dumas and Charles Ray reflect on Sch?tte's significance through close readings of his work.
Thomas Sch?tte (born 1954) studied under Gerhard Richter and Fritz Schwegler at the Kunstakademie D?sseldorf. He has participated in Documenta, Skulptur Projekte M?nster and the Venice Biennale, where he was awarded the Golden Lion in 2005. His work can be found in the collections of major institutions across Europe and North America.