Thomas Vinson
The line is a recurring theme in the work of Thomas Vinson (born 1970 in Paris, France). He originally wanted to study architecture, but his father, an architect, dissuaded him. Vinson therefore studied law at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, before training to become a sculptor in Houston, Texas, from 1997 to 1999. After returning to Europe, he first moved to Frankfurt and then to Giessen, Germany, where his mother was from. Here, Thomas Vinson developed a style that appears formally austere but is essentially guided by a sensuous and haptic approach. He also made a name for himself as a curator in the exhibition space Kunstturm Mücke (in Hesse, Germany) and as a visiting lecturer of sculpture at the Justus Liebig University as well as the Department of Architecture of the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, both in Giessen.
Thomas Vinson’s sculptures, reliefs, and installations are characterized by his fascination with the formal language of Minimal Art, the sculptures in our everyday environment, and simple materials. He works with the specific qualities of materials like MDF, fiberboard, or cardboard by cutting lines in varying numbers, densities, and arrangements into them, often using a simple table saw or more recently a laser. He also often assembles rectangular elements together that create patterns of lines. In his finished works, the mostly unprocessed materials thus have sculptural seams or gaps that look less like cuts and more like connecting, graphic elements. The resulting grid patterns generate a visual resonance that sometimes causes the optical illusion of vibration, as in the work “new order (zweiteilig),” which belongs to the collection of the Museum Haus Konstruktiv. His second work in the collection “constructive display volume I,” on the other hand, is an overall composition showing an arrangement of several autonomous works that demonstrate the range of Vinson’s repertoire of techniques and vocabulary of forms. The installation could thus be interpreted as a kind of visual representation of his artistic approach.
Deborah Keller
Thomas Vinson’s sculptures, reliefs, and installations are characterized by his fascination with the formal language of Minimal Art, the sculptures in our everyday environment, and simple materials. He works with the specific qualities of materials like MDF, fiberboard, or cardboard by cutting lines in varying numbers, densities, and arrangements into them, often using a simple table saw or more recently a laser. He also often assembles rectangular elements together that create patterns of lines. In his finished works, the mostly unprocessed materials thus have sculptural seams or gaps that look less like cuts and more like connecting, graphic elements. The resulting grid patterns generate a visual resonance that sometimes causes the optical illusion of vibration, as in the work “new order (zweiteilig),” which belongs to the collection of the Museum Haus Konstruktiv. His second work in the collection “constructive display volume I,” on the other hand, is an overall composition showing an arrangement of several autonomous works that demonstrate the range of Vinson’s repertoire of techniques and vocabulary of forms. The installation could thus be interpreted as a kind of visual representation of his artistic approach.
Deborah Keller
Works by Thomas Vinson
