Ausstellungsführung mit Thomas Brummett und Dr. Christiane Stahl, Direktorin Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung

The work of the US American Thomas Brummett (*1955 in Colorado) is like a spiritual quest. Brummett uses photography to question how natural science, and physics in particular, can shed light on the true nature of the world. He searches for visual manifestations that reveal nature’s complex systems. The central element of his series Light Projections und Infinities shown in the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung is the visual investigation into multiple infinite systems he has explored. According to Brummett light, as the basis of all life and energy, represents »the essence of nature in its purest form«. At the same time, light is also the essence of photography.

Thomas Brummett will give an insight into his elaborate darkroom work, projecting with a camera-less and film-less process so-called circles of confusion (which a lens produces) onto light sensitive photography paper through a lens as a representational, (physical) image of light. For his series Infinities, he uses these Light Projections mixed with various other elements from the natural world (mold grown in his studio, snowflakes captured on a scanner and multiple exposures of magnolias, trees etc.) as well Hubble Telescope images of deep space which give a retrospective view of time from the light of star systems millions of years old. He splits the Infinities series between images made of earth elements and those of the heavens. The artist will explain in which ways his »photography process is an act of meditation through deep and extended attention and has evolved over time into capturing or rendering different Infinite Systems that exist right in front of us. I am trying to understand and present the world in its totality. If only we had the means to observe the world as it truly exists, think of how differently we would treat each other and our planet«.

Thomas Brummett was born in Colorado/USA in 1955. After studying ceramics and photography at Colorado State University (BFA, 1979) and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan (MFA, 1982), he settled as a photographer in Philadelphia. From 1985 to 2015 he was a part time professor for University of Pittsburgh, University of Arts and Temple University in Philadelphia. Raised in an Episcopal Christian family, he was drawn to Far Eastern Taoism and Buddhist art during travels to India and Asia as a young adult. His work is regularly exhibited internationally and features in many prestigious private and public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. Among numerous awards for his work, he has received the International Photography Award (2004, 2009, and 2012) and the Sony World Photography Award (2014). He lives and works in Philadelphia/USA.