On View from September 6- October 4, 2023.
Thomas Putzier is a queer Minnesota-based conceptual artist and designer. His practice
imagines new worlds to examine relationships between architecture, power, freedom, and
control. His works create a universe and mythology that confronts disciplinary and ideological
boundaries through architectural design, drawing, painting, performance, sound, and video. His
works have been exhibited in galleries, museums, and sculpture parks.
Over the past few years Thomas has been making work about grief. An indeterminate grief, a
collective grief, and all-encompassing grief. After his father’s passing, he began embracing
experimentation and play in his practice. He found that he would often take things further than he needed to when it came to artmaking. The canvases are blank but they are still paintings with
intention and meaning. The forms he is utilizing reference both joy and hopelessness. He utilizes
the anxiety of impermanence, the mask of stability, and the subliminal threshold of the unknown
to create work that questions the disturbing nature of our corrupt society.
Thomas Putzier is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from
the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota
through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from
the arts and cultural heritage fund.
