Thomas Koenig

Thomas Koenig was born in 1983, and he lives and works in Vevey, Switzerland (CH).

For the past two years, I have focused my artistic research on drawing. Approaching this medium through questions such as “What is a drawing?”, “How is it produced, on what kind of surface, and with what technique?”, and “Is it an original or not?”, I have expanded my practice to include sculpture, installation, and sometimes even performance, offering answers to a broader question: “How is drawing exhibited?”
Considering drawing as the recording of a process, abstraction has emerged as the most valid form for discussing the essence of an artistic activity, which inevitably leads to the question “How is art made?”. From this point, a rich, multifaceted, and generous artistic corpus develops, expanding numerous connections and resonances between my personal production and a multitude of external references. Attention is directed at everything that surrounds me or crosses my path. The flow of images poured out by the internet, art history relegated by books and texts, objects, showcases, stories told around a table at all hours of the day… all serve as material to be recycled for the benefit of my work.
Anthropophagy is the only rule of the game, no distinction is to be made between art and life, and life without art would simply stop.

Thomas Koenig graduated from HEAD, Geneva, in 2012 and holds a Bachelor’s degree from ECAL, Lausanne, in 2008. His work has recently been presented at L’Atelier Des Testeurs in collaboration with Vianney Fivel at Chalet Society, Paris; in collaboration with Vianney Fivel on the Jenisch Feu project at the Musée Jenisch in Vevey; at his solo exhibition “Natural Fair” at Les Docks in Lausanne; in the group exhibition “We Suisse” in Besançon; and more recently in the group exhibition “La Vallée de la Jeunesse” at the Ferme Asile in Sion. Thomas is also a founding member of the RATS Collective based in Vevey. He was the curator in 2013 for the RATS Collective residency of Laetitia Bech and Jéremy Piningre and for the exhibition of Robin Michel and Philippe Daerendiger at the Centre D’Art Estival in Vevey.