Niko Thomsen
Niko Thomsen
Born 1966 in Lübeck, Germany
Graduated from the humanistic “Katharineum zu Lübeck”, founded 1531.
Bachelor of fine arts, 1993
Freie Kunststudienstaette, Ottersberg, near Bremen, in Germany
“During my time at the Ottersberg Art School near Bremen in Germany, were I was studying to become a painter in the early 1990’s, I came across a welding machine down in the sculpture workshop, and decided that fusing different bits of metal together and creating something “real” was actually a lot more satisfying than trying to express myself through a somehow more abstract, two dimensional medium, the canvas.
Driven by the excitement of the physical engagement with a new material, the smell of oil and setting the old rubbish tin on fire, I started to create things with a real difference. They were heavy, sharp, dangerous, big, and they were made from steel.
I was not looking for the abstract form. Chairs, tables, lamps, ovens, and beds for example were all great objects to create and then put together to expressive and interesting surroundings, describing comprehendible situations different to how we would normally come across them.
Filling the empty room given to a sculptor, the endlessness of three dimensionality, was a great thing to explore. The challenge of walking down the road of repetition, pushing a circle of my personal physical limits, finding ways of shaping the element into the ideas I had was interesting enough to keep me focused for many years.
Being in New Zealand for more than ten years now is certainly starting to have an influence on my work. The lush vegetation, the wind and the sea, the spikiness of some plants, the deep and somehow overwhelming forests, the mountains, all that inspires me to create objects which have been taken over by plants, as if they would if someone or something would allow them.
Humans see themselves as something absolute, something that is ruling our beautiful nature. With my artwork I try to explore a world were this will of being stronger could be broken.”
Niko Thomsen, 2008
© 2008 - 2017 Niko Thomsen
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Brief history:
After finishing a bachelor of arts at
“the freie kunststudienstätte” Ottersberg,
near Bremen in Germany, I was living in my studio/workshop, taking on creative construction work during the daytime, while at night running the “Axolotl bar with dancing”, my community arts center, gallery and 16mm cinema.
This “live in art project” was the successful start into my completely self funded alternative lifestyle.
After visiting New Zealand in 1996 and 1997 I moved to this beautiful country permanently in 1999, established myself again as an artist, exhibiting regularly, and accepting many varied commissions.
Artist statement: Don’t take my artist statements too serious, life is too short to worry about those things too much. However, when you are an artist, people want to read something about why you are doing things the way you do them. My artist statements are just a few examples of what inspired me. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I am that person.