Thomas Kläber

Islands of Time

 

08/06—15/09/24

 

The exhibition shows pictures by the photographer Thomas Kläber (* 1955) that have rarely or never been presented to the public before. Some of the selected works come from a generous donation from the artist to the museum, while other photos were taken recently. All of the pictures demonstrate Kläber’s great interest in his fellow human beings and their immediate environment. He has devoted himself to this topic since the beginning of his artistic career and the photographer’s desire to use his camera to capture the lives of a wide variety of people near and far has remained unbroken to this day. These pictures in particular occupy an important place in his entire work.

 

The exhibition covers a period of more than 40 years. It begins with pictures from 1979 that calmly tell of events in a bar in Berlin-Köpenick and ends with color pictures that Kläber brought back from Japan last autumn. He is interested in life in all its facets and in 1996 he also created pictures depicting the difficult situation in the Frankfurt (Oder) prison.

 

A large part of the selected works were created while travelling. In the 1980s, Thomas Kläber travelled in Eastern Europe, including Plovdiv, the former Soviet Union, Ukraine and Krakow. This is followed by photographs from stays in Hong Kong (2009), Uganda (2014 and 2018) and Japan (2023). No matter where and when, the photographer always filters out the visually original from completely ordinary situations with an unerring instinct and thus creates memorable images.

 

Kläber’s photographic curiosity is not limited to everyday observations. He also explores the possibilities of the contemporary portrait in a series of double portraits. To do this, he photographs fathers and sons, mothers and daughters and couples in front of a neutral background, thus taking them out of their concrete environment. The pictures from the work group Zusammen (Together) (1988-1989 and 2002-2006), in which he explores interpersonal relationships, also become testimonies to his artistic attitude, which is characterized by sincerity, sensitivity and the never-ending search for a pictorial truth.

 

Biography

1955

born in Beyern / today’s EE district in the state of Brandenburg

1976-1981

studied at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (HGB)

Graduation as Diplom-Fotografiker (graduate photographer)

1981-1983

Additional studies at the HGB Leipzig (Prof. Helfried Strauß)

Freelance photographer since 1983

Member of the Brandenburg Association of Visual Artists

The German Society for Photography (DGPH) and

The ASA Photography Group

Lives and works in Kolkwitz near Cottbus