Painting or photography? In the case of Thomas Nitz, the best answer to this question would be “both”. Because Thomas Nitz is caught between two stools: His photographs are not the slick motifs of glossy magazines. In their tactile feel of tangible structures, they are indebted to painting. Thomas Nitz photographs beyond editions and editions, his works are unique.
The master student of fine arts at the UdK Berlin has been working as a freelance photographic artist since 1992. He has been honing his special technique of multiple exposures for around 10 years. Each photograph is preceded by the processing of the background, in which painterly means are used. Nitz uses watercolor cardboard, which he primes with paint and makes light-sensitive with an emulsion. Working by hand is the prerequisite for his works, because every cardboard is different and the result is unpredictable. How the background reacts during the development of the photographs can only be controlled to a certain extent and this is precisely what makes the photograph so valuable. The photographs cannot be repeated at will and each print is different from the next.
The value of the unique, the uniqueness of the moment, goes hand in hand with the chosen motifs. The series “Cathedrals and Metropolis” shows shopping malls, cathedrals of consumption, the building boom of the big city, utopia and decline.
Today, when images are endlessly reproduced, digitally processed and shared thousands of times, the desire for the genuine, unadulterated image is once again playing a role. Thomas Nitz addresses the topic of instant cameras with a traditional street camera, the so-called “Afghan Box Camera”, which he built himself.
Every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., the artist allows a look behind the scenes and takes portraits of the exhibition visitors. The photos are taken directly on site as originals, with the focus on the creative process.