Thomas Virnich

Thomas Virnich – Art as home and anchor in an unstable world

Thomas Virnich was born in Eschweiler on 16 March 1957. He began his artistic pursuits as a youngster, to the displeasure of his sister whose doll’s house he sawed up and reconfigured outside and in. He studied with Joachim Bandau from 1978 to 1981 at the Technical College in Aachen, and then at the Düsseldorf Art Academy where his teachers were Eugen Gomringer and Alfonso Hüppi, holding solo exhibitions as early as 1983 whilst still studying. Thomas Virnich feels at home and at one with his art. He processes the changes in the world that occupy, touch and sometimes burden him with sculptures such as the Tower of Babel, made of model railway houses that are disjointed and threatening to slip over, and therefore represent a familiar world that is increasingly losing its security and grip. 

The discovery of collage with sculptural resources

Thomas Virnich often sources his inspiration for his art at flea markets which he roams looking for items which he then uses as the spark for unique creative channels. Sometimes he finds this in his own direct environment: His daughter’s beloved Barbie pony had to serve as a model for a bronze sculpture that can be admired today at the Magdeburg Market. Virnich has succeeded in making the technique of collage fruitful for sculpture in a way that hardly any other artist before or parallel to him has managed. He is particularly interested in architecture because every building is inhabited by a meaning: humanity manifests itself in its buildings. By deconstructing and distorting the various buildings, Virnich gets to the heart of their inner workings and can open up new thoughts and ideas. The old is not discarded but viewed in a different way and considered afresh – and he does this consistently. In Virnich’s eyes, passiveness is the greatest possible mistake, because time passes by too quickly not to make use of every second. 

Art and artists belong to the future

Thomas Virnich lives with his family in Mönchengladbach-Neuwerk where he has set up a studio in his former school. The playground is now a sculpture park and storage site for the diverse materials the artist has collected for his work. The collection of all these objects is also an expression of Virnich’s optimistic stance: it is worthwhile for him to invest and sow, to make plans, because the future will be better, and belongs to art. Technical advancement enables humans to work less and to invest more time and energy in artistic activity. Thomas Virnich has received prizes and awards for his art including the 1987 Villa Romana Prize, the Villa Massimo Prize in 1991 and the Lower Saxony Art Prize in 2001. Virnich has worked as a professor at the University for Fine Arts in Braunschweig since 1992. He shares his enthusiasm for art with his older brother Winfried Virnich – they are both members of the Deutscher Künstlerbund (German Artists’ Association).