THOMAS J PRICE | Kunsthalle Krems, April 26, 2024

Large staff in the Kunsthalle Krems

Krems (OTS) – 26.04.2024. The Kunsthalle Krems is dedicating the first exhibition in Europe outside of his home country to the British artist Thomas J Price (born 1981 in London). Initiated by Florian Steininger, director of the Kunsthalle Krems, the staff then moves to the Kunsthal Rotterdam and the Arnolfini Bristol. Price works multidisciplinary in the areas of sculpture, animation, photography and painting. With his figurative sculptures, he questions preconceived notions about representation and identity by foregrounding the intrinsic worth of the individual and undermining hierarchical structures.

Florian Steininger, artistic director of the Kunsthalle Krems: „Thomas J Price is the new shooting star of current figurative sculpture. The Kunsthalle Krems is dedicating its first museum exhibition in Europe outside of Great Britain to him. With concept and analysis, Price appropriates classical Western sculpture from antiquity to modernity and writes himself into the canon of white art history with his pop-classic heroines of everyday life.“

Heroes of everyday life

Many of the works are created in a multi-stage process using a hybrid approach of traditional sculpture and intuitive digital technology. His sculptures are not images of real people, but rather fictional “heroes of everyday life,” as he calls them. The artist’s concern is to provide clues to a deeper human connection. It’s about how society perceives each other without categorizing.

Canon of sculpture

Thomas J Price plays with the interpretation of power and status. He combines references to ancient, classical and neoclassical sculpture with a strong understanding of the symbolic power of materials. The polished bronze and marble sculptures are luxurious and monumental. They seem to be rooted in the canon of 20th century sculpture, but the conceptual debate challenges our awareness of modern iconography and the sudden immortalization of triumphant figures.

Thomas J Price: „I really hope that we have bravery and courage and show a genuine willingness to learn from our past, confront it and incorporate these new understandings into our inclusion strategy. We have the opportunity to create a more cohesive society if we want to seize it. Are we perpetuating the current system of selecting historical figures as representatives of values we should strive for? Or do we look for the similarities we all have and embrace representations of those who have previously been stigmatized or invisible?“

Art in public spaces

In public spaces, Thomas J Price presents his monumental sculptures without a base in order to distinguish them from heroic monuments of power. Instead, they are at ground level and in direct relation to the viewer. The oversized statue is in front of the Kunsthalle Krems Reaching Out (2020) placed. With the work, which depicts a young woman looking at her cell phone, Price balances experiences of isolation and connection in a modern age.

Catalog for the exhibition

On the occasion of the traveling exhibition in Krems, Bristol and Rotterdam, a catalog with generously designed photo series is being published by the bookstore Walther and Franz König, Cologne, in collaboration with the three museums.

THOMAS J PRICE. MATTER OF PLACE

27.04.2024 – 22.09.2024

www.kunsthalle.at/de/ausstellungen/thomas_j_price

Opening: Friday April 26, 2024, 7 p.m

Kunsthalle Krems, Museumsplatz 5, 3500 Krems an der Donau

Press area

Press photos

Photos of the opening (online on April 27th, 2024 from 12 p.m.)