THE NEW COMPLEXITY OF THE WORLD - THOMAS SCHÖNAUER

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About


São Paulo, Brasil
27/09/2025 - 19/12/2025

In Thomas Schönauer’s workshop in Dusserdorf, there is intense creative energy. The artist molds steel sheets, which weigh tons to transform them into sculptural expression and make them float like feathers in space – In other words, it’s not an easy task! In addition to creative strength, structural planning and full technical mastery are necessary. Thomas is a tireless builder of forms, capable of making steel sing in balance and dialogue

with nature.

Working with steel sheets

The modules that make up his current sculptures are always from the same formal family and operate on the same range. The modular surfaces follow one another and relate to each other in a linked way to form domed, harmonic and choreographic ensembles. The visual dynamics of his sculptures are constructed by the sequential articulations and the numerous formal unfolding of the modules

in space.

The artist masters the expressions of light and shadow with extraordinary sensitivity. It is worth saying that sculpture reveals itself as an architecture of forms that drive expressions of light and movement in space. Thomas Schönauer develops in his spatial poetics questions of time, diachronic situations, a kind of anatomy of movement that occurs in the formal and synchronous consequences of converging sets that attract and interact with each

other.

The modules connect and express themselves in their various angles, that is, they are not presented in isolation, although they have, from a formal point of view, their own role. Each unit is expressed in an articulated way with the others, like musical notes that build melodies. The artist establishes numerous links between the modules and causes multiple

sensations of mobility.

In recent years, Thomas Schönauer has been working mainly with vaulted and angular surfaces in search of the expression of light and movement. Thomas is a master at constructing tonal symphonies of light and shadow. His works develop controlled variations in the projection and capture of light, explore different luminosities through reflections and mirrors, and obtain multiple intensities of projection or absorption of light on steel surfaces.
The vaulted shapes and inclinations of the modules cause a sequence of continuous tones, of subtle luminous variations that attenuate contrasts between light and shadow zones. Thomas also works with opaque surfaces in sculptures made with corten steel sheets. In these, the light is absorbed, without reflection, by the reddish oxide layer (called an anticorrosive patina) that forms on the surface. A kind of sculptural skin, which makes the shapes more compact, vigorous

and dramatic.

Glass sculptures

Recently Thomas surprised us with sculptures made of glass. Some years ago, the artist was delighted to contemplate some glass pieces, created in Roman antiquity and belonging to the collection of the Römisch Germanisches Museum in Cologne, near Dusseldorf, his hometown. According to him, the objects were endowed with incredible strength. Impressed by what he saw, he decided to research and include glass as an expressive element of

his art.

To master this ancient technique, Thomas went out looking for a master capable of engaging in his project and, after 4 years, he found master blower Robert Comploj in Vienna, a specialist in the ancient craft of Venetian blown glass and recognized worldwide for his mastery.

The fact that Robert Comploj moved into the fields of art and design facilitated the dialogue between the two. According to Thomas, “he soon understood the strength of my idea and decided to execute my projects. Robert knows that the glass blower craft is dying and he enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to

enter the artistic world.”

Schönauer sent several models to the Comploj workshop and made constant trips to Vienna with the intention of finding ways to facilitate the execution of his sculptural projects on glass. Initially they encountered problems connecting the volumes when assembling the sets, but the difficulties and obstacles that arose were quickly resolved

and overcome.

They chose to blow the volumes into wooden molds and then mirror them inside through a sophisticated chemical process to meet Thomas’s chromatic intentions, among the 82 possible colors of glass (sand) that support the mirroring process from the inside. Despite the extraordinary result of his glass works and the full chromatic mastery already achieved, the artist continues to research and seeks to expand horizons: “we are still at the beginning of our partnership and I am sure that we will follow new paths to further innovate sculptural expression

in glass.”

The painting

Despite currently prioritizing the activity of sculptor, Thomas is still active as a painter and produces circular paintings of two meters in diameter, with a vigorous, gestural expression and intense chromaticism.

Schönauer works by pouring industrial ink onto a metal plate in full rotational motion, and thus controls, through quick gestures, the dosage of color. Shapes emerge in movement and define chromatic fields. The gesture of casting the ink and the rotation speed of the plate determine the color paths and their mergers. Therefore, his painting is the result of a vigorous tension between the random and the intended.
Thomas Schönauer’s painting is presented as a counterpoint to his sculptural expression, in other words, as an antagonistic drive — his painting shows the predominance of an unrestrained force, of formal and chromatic confrontations, while in his sculpture there is a predominance of harmony, of the gentle changes of light and movement.
In sculptures contrasts are attenuated through an articulated game of forms, however, in painting contrasts and chromatic ruptures represent the core

of their language.

Always attentive to contemporary themes, Thomas Schönauer’s sculpture, entitled, “The New Complexity of the World” combines strength and beauty. The artist creates a large compact mass of steel (2×2 meters) and tensions antagonistic forces of stability and instability, articulates forms of expansion and contention, in a game of life and death between harmony

and conflict.

Thomas Schönauer is a sculptor who stands out on the German art scene. He currently lives in Dusseldorf, his hometown, an important European artistic and cultural center. His works can be found in public spaces in various cities in Germany. Also, as a painter, he presents a language of intense chromatism, gestural and renewing technique. Thomas’s work has been recognized by international critics, cultural institutions and the

market.

Despite living in Germany, the artist has solid ties with Brazil. He participated in the German delegation at Eco-92, also known as Rio-92 Earth Summit, which brought together 180 heads of state and government in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. In Rio, he met Teresinha, his wife, and lived for a long period in Minas Gerais. In those years he produced polychrome wooden sculptures, with great repercussions on the Brazilian and

South American artistic environment.

Fabio Magalhães