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Thom Puckey

https://www.thompuckey.com/

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°1948, Bexleyheath, England

Lives and works in Amsterdam (Netherlands).

EDUCATION & BIO

Croydon College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art, Royal College of Art, (degree: Master of Fine Art)

2018

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2017

2016

2014 - 1997

1995 - 1987

1986

1978

1972 - 1980

Workshop, lectures, discussions, 14 days (Public Art, Private Works), Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.

Workshop, lectures, discussions, 21 days (Machine Works), University of Design Nanjing, China

Workshop, lectures, discussions, 14 days (Machine, Space and Idea), Southeast University Nanjing, Department of Architecture, Nanjing, China.

Workshop, lectures, discussions, 10 days, (Camera Obscura), University of Xiamen, Media Art Department, China

Lecturer, Southeast University, Dept Architecture, Nanjing, China.

Tutor in fine art, Academy for Art and Design, Den Bosch

Sculpture professor Rijksacademie Amsterdam

Sandberg Art Prize awarded by Foundation Amsterdam Art Funds

Moves to Amsterdam

Performance artist together with Dirk Larsen, in the performance-duo ‘Reindeer Werk’

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019

2017

2014

2013

 

2010

2008

2004

2002

1999

1994

1991

1990

1989

1988

1987

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1986

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1985

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1984

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1983

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1982

1980

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1978

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1977

1976

Appearances and Faint Revelations. New sculptures and photographs. Annie Gentils Gallery, Antwerpen, BE

A Matter of Time - Thom Puckey and the Thorbecke Monument. Stroom, Den Haag, NL

Platform voor Actuele Kunst, Gistel, BE

Something Uttered as Recently as Yesterday, Mieke van Schaijk Gallery, s-Hertogenbosch, NL

11 Easy Pieces, Love and Self Damage, SM's Stedelijk Museum s-Hertogenbosch, NL

The Prato Project, Museo Centro Luigi Pecci, Prato, IT (with Jan van der Ploeg, wall-paintings)

Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Amsterdam (with Jan van der Ploeg, wall-paintings), NL

Galerie De Praktijk, Amsterdam, NL

Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, NL

Galerie De Praktijk, Amsterdam, NL

Galerie Hohenthal and Bergen, Köln, DE

Galleria Carini, Firenze, IT

Galerie Lumen Travo, Amsterdam, NL

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL

Galerie Zeno X, Antwerpen, BE

Shedhalle, Zürich (cat.), CH

Haags Centrum voor Aktuele Kunst, Den Haag, NL

Zeno X Galerie, Antwerpen, BE

Galerie Waalkens, Finsterwolde, NL

Galerie Van Rooy, Amsterdam, NL

Greenberg Wilson Gallery, New York, USA

De Zaak, Groningen, NL

Markt Zeventien, Enschede, NL

De Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL

Galerie Van Rooy, Amsterdam, NL

Zeno X Gallery, Antwerpen , BE

Werkstatt-Galerie Moltkerei, DE

Museum Fodor, Amsterdam, NL

Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, NL

Vijf huizen - vijf steden:

Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL

De Appel, Amsterdam, NL

Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, NL

Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, NL

Corps de Garde, Groningen, NL

Galerie 'A', Amsterdam, NL

Pracownia Dziekanka, Warsaw, PL

Museum Fodor, Amsterdam, NL

Galerie St. Petri, Lund, SE

Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam, NL

Vehicule Art, Montréal, Canada

Behavioral Art. Galerie Stzuki Najnowszej, Wroclaw (cat.), PL

Behavioral Art. Galerie Remont, Warsaw (cat.), PL

Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide (cat.), Australia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018

2017

2016/15

2015

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2014

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2012

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2011

2011/10

2010

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2009

2008

2007

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2006

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2005

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2004

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2003

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2002

2001

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2000

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1999

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1997

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1996

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1995

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1994

1993

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1992

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1989

1988

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1987

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1986

1985

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1984

1983

1981

1979

1978

1977

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Vienna Contemporary Art Fair. Stand Annie Gentils

Once Upon a Time.... City Festival Damme, BE

Hyperrealism, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, NL

Art Brussels with Gallery Annie Gentils

Silence Out Loud, Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen, NL

No More Secrets, Platform voor Actuele Kunst, Gistel, BE

Spiegel im Spiegel, St. Amandus Psychiatrisch Centrum, Beernem, BE

On War and Peace, Museum Van Bommel Van Dam, Venlo, NL

Scope Art Fair, New York, stand Galleria Barbara Paci, USA

RAW Art Fair, duo with Gino Saccone, Gallery Mieke van Schaijk, Rotterdam, NL

Points de Vue, 200 Years Kunstacademie 's-Hertogenbosch, former Stedelijk Museum Building, Den Bosch, NL

Birth, Platform voor Actuele Kunst, Gistel, BE

Figuurlijk, New Figurative Art, Museum Hilversum, NL

Art Kiev (Galleria Barbara Paci, Pietrasanta, IT

Galleria Barbara Paci, Pietrasanta, IT

Art Rotterdam, Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Rotterdam, NL

Collection XXVI, The Artefactum Years. M HKA, Antwerpen., BE

10000 Lives, Gwangju Biennale 2010, Gwangju, South Korea.

Beeld Hal Werk, Contemporary Sculpture from the Netherlands, North Amsterdam, NL

Art Amsterdam, stand Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries

Art Amsterdam, stand Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries

Songs of Innocence and Aggression, National Gallery of Macedonia Cifte Amam, Skopje, MK

Rockers Island Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang, Essen, BE

Marble & Celluloid, La Versiliana, Pietrasanta, IT

Die Büste von Rodin bis Jeff Koons in Museum Liner Appenzell

Die obere Hälfte in de Städtischen Museum Heilbron, DE

Entr’acte 2, Casa Gallizio, Alba, IT

Territoria Centro Arte Pecci, Prato, IT (Curator: Thom Puckey)

Het kwaad, All about Evil in Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL

Das Unheimliche, Museum Moderne Kunst, Vienna, AT

The Uncanny, Tate Liverpool, UK

Tender Prey, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL

De Grote Verbeelding, Grote Kerk, Den Haag, NL

Caldic Collectie, Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, NL

Entr’acte, Palazzo Albiroli, Bologna, IT

Mean Mercy, TENT, Rotterdam, IT

Zeven Goede Dagen, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, NL

Garden of Delight, Het Kruithuis, Den Bosch, NL

Tuin van Verbeelding, Van Gimborn Arboretum, Doorn, NL

Welkom Thuis, Galerie De Praktijk, Amsterdam, NL

Floating Time, Binnendieze, Den Bosch, NL

United Colours of Sculpture, Galleria Maria Cilena, Milaan, IT

Holland Japan Kindergarten Bondage, De Vleeshal. Middelburg, NL

De Steen Vliegt, Institute Néerlandais, Paris, FR.

Brandend Zand, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, NL

Zielespiegel, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. NL

In Gesprek met Vermeer, Museum het Prinsenhof, Delft, NL

De Steen Vliegt, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL

Tutti Questi Mondi, Galleria Carini, Prato, IT

Sculpture Triennale, Stuttgart, DE

Het Grote Gedicht, Nederlandse Beeldhouwkunst v/a 1945, Nieuwe Kerk, Den Haag, NL

The Uncanny, Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, NL

A Century of Sculpture, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, NL

Abri, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL

Salve, Galerie Hohenthal und Bergen, Munich, DE

Realities, Circulo De Bellas Artes, Madrid, ES

Gemeentemuseum Arnhem (cat.) , NL

Universalis, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL

Aperto 88, XLIII Biennale di Venezia, IT

Binnenruimten, Het Catharina Gasthuis, Gouda, NL

Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst – Het Kruithuis, Den Bosch, NL

Rijksmuseum Twente, Enschede; Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, NL

Een grote activiteit, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (cat.), NL

Fort Asperen, Acquoy, NL

Alles und Noch Viel Mehr, Kunstmuseum, Bern, CH

Jeune Sculpture Européenne, Musée de la Ville d'Albi, Albi, FR

Museum Fodor, Amsterdam, NL

Nederlandse Kunststichting

Westkunst, Werkstatt Moltkerei, Köln, DE

Galerie Krinzinger, Innsbruck, AT

Reindeer Werk met Dirk Larsen, European Series, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

Reindeer Werk met Dirk Larsen, Documenta 6, Kassel (cat.), DE

Thom Puckey, influenced early on by the Viennese Actionismmovement, was intensely active as a performance artist in the 1970s and early 1980s with his performance art duo Reindeer Work; this trained him in the expressive possibilities of the body, in its relational abilities and in how to render their image. His apprenticeship can still be seen in the artwork he produces today and, especially, in his use of live models for his sculpture. Many long posing sessions are required to establish the position of each figure and during these a great many photographs are taken, snapped from every angle in order to verify the subject's validity and how it will take shape in space. So it follows that the artist treats each model as a true performer in two senses: in that, with her body, she incarnates a living, unexpected form constituting an expressive possibility, and in that she is an actress playing a role, lending her face and body to an otherwise abstract idea.

 

The individual female figures, young and completely or partially nude, are invariably and disquietingly accompanied by the presence of modern weaponry. Sometimes their derivation from classical models is rather evident..

 

The meticulous rendering of the firearms and blades dressing the figures, together with the taste for anatomical detail, the sometimes aggressive poses, the bodies themselves sometimes amputated, are open declarations of a strategy which doesn't refer culturally to the past; indeed the choice of a “high” material like monochrome marble is almost subversive with respect to the artist's intention.

 

Thus a statue, albeit executed in a “timeless” material like marble, is not the concretization of an ideal, nor even of womanly beauty; on the contrary, a real beauty, like that of a young model, prefigures the statue she will become (which is certainly true also for the other contemporary artists, from Anthony Gormley to Marc Quinn, who have chosen or who have fallen into figurative sculpture).

 

Extract from text of Willem Elias in: Thom Puckey - 11 Easy Pieces - Love & Self Damage, ed. Pels& Kemper, 's-Hertogenbosch, 2013

 

Work of Thom Puckey in private en public collections in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

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