Thomas Pihl: Painting - Drawing - Sculpture

Painting - Drawing - sculpture

What we typically see in an exhibition by Thomas Pihl (1964) are large, medium-sized and smaller monochrome paintings. But it is far from uniform surfaces that take up wall space. They are living images, images that change according to light and perhaps mood.

In most encounters with a work of art, we will almost automatically think: what is the artist trying to communicate or say here? Which codes are to be deciphered and which references place the artwork in a larger context? In that sense, it is an extremely difficult task to describe what you see and what you think when you stand in front of a painting by Pihl. What we see, experience and sense in front of us seems meaningful and rich in content, as if it is something that can be captured by thought and thus formulated.

But in what we see, there are no points of reference, no recognizable shapes, letters, contrasts, to which we can refer, to give the language help. It is as if these objects and surfaces, produced by a human being, like you and me, evade the essence of the interpersonal; verbal communication.

We can describe the pictures by pointing to which color they are. We can draw attention to shading, how the paintings seem to fade towards the edge of the image, and how the surface looks like a membrane. But it is limiting and deplorable.

A series of works by Thomas Pihl bears the title Prearticulations. In other words, something that lies before articulation, before language. It is very appropriate. Because the images escape the language. But it is fundamentally about perception; sensation and the intellectual reflection on the sensation. The basis of all art.