MAIN GALLERY & PROCESS GALLERY : THE APOSTLE-ASTRONAUTS
Exhibition: October 24th – November 4th 2018
Reception: October 27th 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Thomas Ackermann paints with the exuberance of a child filtered through the intellect of a wily philosopher. Ackermann has said that he is endeavouring to elicit a visceral experience for the viewer, organizing in his own unique dialogue with the materials he uses.
“I have developed a very personal way of applying my materials onto the canvas, much like Pollock or Frankenthaler dripping or pouring. I am using a 600 year old medium (oil paint) and have reinvented (altered) it to suit my unique process.”
Ackermann is bending the material to his will, in the same way he bends his subject matter when mining art history and contemporary concerns. All are consumed in an alchemy that produce images, shapes, forms and contortions that are both rooted in the past, while simultaneously identifying the spirit of our time. The Apostle/ Astronauts are an important series of paintings that document Ackermann’s process of using various transfer techniques from one surface to another.
” I used acrylic, oil or inkjet printing to produce the complex surface. The reflective (Mirror) Helmet-Visor served as an effective devise to introduce iconic or historic subject matter that question notions of reality, truth and objectivity. The 12 paintings are a reference to the fact that Jesus had 12 disciples/ apostles and 12 astronauts walked on the moon.”