Patricia Thoma hails from the Markgräflerland in South Germany, where she was born in 1977 in the town of Müllheim. She studied at the Art Academy in Stuttgart from 1996 – 2001. In 2000 she was an Erasmus fellow at the University of Derby’s School of Art and Design in England. She spent 2003 at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, where she received her Master of Arts. Patricia Thoma was lecturer at the College of Art and Design in Bengbu, China, in 2006, and, in 2009 she began teaching at Anhui University in Hefei, China (both in Anhui province, Eastern China).

Japanisches Müllkleid, 2008, Japanese plastic package, yarn, 120 cm

There are two sides to her work: One is the illustration of children’s books (examples on the artist’s website), the other her large drawings and paintings of human figures. Her nearly life-size images, painted with pencil and watercolour on transparent paper, as well as her smaller works on masonite, show men and women of all ages: young women with swords and broken toys, young men with their dogs, women in roughly-textured clothes with handkerchiefs and different constellations of couples.

Plus-Kleid, 2007, “Plus”-bags, yarn, 220 cm

Aldi-Süd-Teppich, 2007, “Aldi”-bags, yarn, 120 cm

The beholder is confronted by what the figures have in common: unflattering poses and garments, and sometimes their wounded, vulnerable bodies. Renouncing the common idea of (superficial) beauty, Thoma works with the existential questions that surround the human body, in its symbolical reference to the conditio humana. She reveals vulnerability and fragility, comparing, in her own words, humans and nocturnal insects: “Moths are the butterflies of the night, very fragile creatures, which can be de-equilibrated by the slightest breath of air. (…) The moth’s wings are wafer thin and covered with fine pigments. The markings on their wings are very sensitive and are easily damaged. Moths fly around a shining light bulb and are constantly in danger of having their wings burned. The typology of moths shows parallels to the works. The pigments in both cases seem to have been just breathed upon, their surface is highly vulnerable. The works live in, and from, the moment, their life span seems limited. Like the moths, the humans seem to fly around an imaginary light bulb, as if floodlighted, sometimes surrounded by a menacing darkness. They are always in danger of losing their balance and crashing.”

Geisha ,2001, pencil, oil on canvas, 250 x 100 cm

Am Rande, 2006, oil on plastic sheet, 21 x 17 cm

Another series of works are the small sculptures, mainly garments, looking lush and flamboyant. They are nevertheless made of plastic bags – a biting commentary on fashion, brands and life in general.

Exhibitions:

Paradiesäpfel

Tag- und Nachtfalter