in the presence of the photographer

The first solo exhibition in France of the German artist Thorsten Brinkmann (1971), Farce Satrape makes room for some of the illustrious figures of knights, padre, donna and other hybrid creatures imagined by the artist. In this gallery of “portraits of a serialsammler” (serial collector) made within the walls of his studio, the artist stages and embodies fictitious characters with the appearance of high and proud dignitaries. The use of a juxtaposed palette of ochre, emerald green, vermilion and lapis lazuli, the use of fabrics and the haughty bearing of the subject remind us of the Renaissance portraits of kings, queens and princesses. One would almost have the feeling of being stared at, if it weren’t for this single fringed lampshade.

Thorsten Brinkmann’s work is based primarily on a diligent collection of lonely, worn-out, dysfunctional objects, discarded by our consumer society. This is followed by a work of assembly, where he lets the objects and their stories come to him,
he sculpts his character, until the moment when, everything having taken place, he presses the shutter release from a distance. Sketching a side step, Thorsten Brinkmann interprets with humor the relationship of modern man to the object and its consumption and re-enacts again and again in front of the mirror of the camera the acts of a theater of the absurd that suits our time well.

Let’s borrow from the motto of an eminent member of the College of ‘Pataphysics promoted to the rank of Satrape, Boris Vian, “I like to think about things I think others will not think about”.

Free entry
Information at 02 35 89 36 96
or info@centrephotographique.com

Photograph : Thorsten Brinkmann, Venus la Shade, 2015 ©Thorsten Brinkmann + VG Bildkunst Bonn, 2018