The mind seems to be capable of collecting a myriad of information,
mostly unconsciously, but can draw on this data in a split second. This is
usually referred to as intuition. As in improvisation, when your mental
faculties have been sufficiently developed, intuition can tie all those
experiences together in an instance, reach out and come to new and surprising
conclusions. When Thomas Thys empties his mind and waits for what is out there
to speak to him, the work evokes ambivalent emotions of attraction and
repulsion in the viewer. In his
world the inanimate and animate share the same presence – lovers embrace on the
beach, dark casements of the city beyond and the other voyeurs, stare at a sexy butt
in red swimming trunks, or detect a perfectly shaped shin of a girl lying
smothered under her man. A
palpable emotional content is what distinguishes Thomas Thys’ work from much
what is current in contemporary photography.
Physics is seeking to put the numbers around the idea of a multi-dimensional
universe, an unfolding sponge of realities, a fabric that can be inferred but
not measured. Why should it not be possible to intuit beyond the edge? I do not suppose that Thomas Thys would
ever contemplate such nonsense himself.
Thomas Thys (1966°) lives in Antwerp. His work has entered several public and private collections.
Shawn McBride
Antwerp, June 8th 2007
Exhibition images 2004
