German artist and peruser of thrift shops and junk piles, Thorsten Brinkmann makes gripping and serious imagery using items one would otherwise overlook in digging through the leftovers of consumerism's wasteful obsolescence habit. In passing a lamp shade, an old strip of shag carpet, some tacky shawl or the random mop while shopping at one's local Salvation Army, would the collective impression of these mostly worn and dated objects inspire the authentic aura of royal portraiture, or, say, Arthurian knights preparing for battle?
In his series Portraits of a Serialsammler, Brinkmann unexpectedly pulls it off. I almost walked past Brinkmann's large photographs at Scope Miami 2007. The effect of Brinkmann's series is, if viewed peripherally, as intimidating and alienating as the portraits of renaissance royalty. However, upon closer study, the Saxon figure "in the carpet" comically emerges from its antithetical aesthetic as not much more than a guy with a wastecan on his head and discarded 1970's costumery draped over his shoulder. As the layers start to peel the masterful comic subtlety of the work begins to unfold until one sees -- beneath the once king, knight or Vermeeresque peasant girl -- the true artist winking at you like a ghost from behind the image.
For further viewing visit: http://www.kunstagenten.de/Neue_Dateien/01_artist/brinkmann/brinkmann_workoverview.html .
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