On the occasion of Thomas Ranft's 80th birthday on January 11, 2025, the Lindenau Museum is dedicating an ART WALL in the museum's Interim to his artistic and friendly relationship with Gerhard Altenbourg. Under the title "Currents", works by both artists will be juxtaposed.
Gerhard Altenbourg and Thomas Ranft met in the early 1970s when Ranft was studying at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. Their artistic friendship, which lasted almost two decades, was based, among other things, on their engagement with nature and the constant search for new artistic means of expression. Ranft introduced Altenbourg to the technique of drypoint etching and printed the "Schnepfenthaler Suite" (1987-1989) with him.
The title of the presentation "Currents" can be read in two directions: on the one hand, it refers to the artistic treatment of rivers and springs, their dynamics, their acoustic dimensions and the changing power of water as a habitat. On the other hand, the title refers to the movement of a basic spiritual attitude. In his "Currents" from the "Traces" portfolio, Ranft created a microscopic view of the flow of the smallest structures. If one traces the dimensions of temporality, one realizes with Altenbourg that nothing can be held fast and that life remains "in flux" as long as it is lived.
April 18 to July 13, 2025
Coursework, 2024, watercolor on paper, Martin Luther School Altenburg
