Thomas Schütte (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series)

Thomas Sch++tte is a catalog of works by this contemporary German artist. Sch++tte studied under Gerhard Richter, Benjamin Buchloh, and Bernd and Hilla Becher at the D++sseldorf Academy in the 1970s. He comes from that strong conceptual background, but as his career matured the emotional content of his work evolved and became much more potent. Sch++tte's work is incredibly eclectic: ceramic figures, architectural models, drawings, outdoor sculptures, photographs, and installations. A recent work, Big Spirits (1996), is a collection of larger-than-life-size aluminum figures that seem to be morphing before one's eyes. They are at once ghost, human, and machine. Also riveting is The Innocents (1994), a series of photographs of the heads of handmade figurines, and United Enemies, A Play in Ten Scenes (1993)--offset lithographs, also of figurines wrapped in Sch++tte's clothes. His watercolors are beautiful, ranging from drawings of fruit to portraits of women. Whatever the project, Sch++tte is tapped in to a particular humanity.Included in the book are essays by Julian Heynen and Angela Vettese, an interview with James Lingwood, and an essay by Roman philosopher Seneca, chosen by the artist. There is also a story by Sch++tte--printed in English for the first time. --Jennifer Cohen