A new exhibition at Leipzig's Reiter Gallery presents the haunting artistic vision of Thomas Sommer, where pastoral landscapes become theaters of environmental catastrophe and human desperation. The show, titled "Rechnung ohne Wirt" (Reckoning Without the Host), features 19 paintings that transform romantic landscape traditions into dystopian warnings about humanity's troubled relationship with nature.
Sommer's paintings initially evoke the peaceful beauty of romantic landscapes, but closer examination reveals a world in crisis. Rather than depicting spring wedding processions or pastoral scenes with shepherd boys playing music under trees, his canvases show megalomaniacs who appear more as fools than kings, people who have barely escaped catastrophe, and figures consumed by despair and resignation. Hope rarely flickers in these compositions, where fires rage across the landscape, dark volcanic rock defeats all growth, and dramatic cloud formations herald impending doom.
The most unsettling elements in Sommer's work are his metaphors for the loss of homeland and rootlessness. He presents a shaky construction of poles that only fleetingly suggests walls, roofs, and windows, alongside a dead tree resembling a mobile that exposes any interference with fragile ecosystems as deadly. The artist demonstrates remarkable skill in developing symbolism for complex processes, including astronauts who represent last chances for escape into the cosmos and highly uncertain survival as space conquerors.
Throughout his compositions, mysterious boxes appear repeatedly – dubious containers and black boxes that can be interpreted as symbols of the ambivalent influence of media. In one particularly striking work titled "Abgespeist" (Fed Up), a dull figure with a false halo presents a questionable box to a naked, vulnerable human like a promise, while the world burns and seethes around them. This painting encapsulates the hopelessness that permeates Sommer's artistic vision.
Another significant work, originally titled "Kontrolle" (Control) but now renamed "Rio hatte recht" (Rio Was Right) – referring to musician Rio Reiser – depicts a desolate landscape where figures in protective suits operate, giving the scene an even more hopeless interpretation. The title change adds another layer of meaning to this already troubling composition.
Sommer's paintings are rich with visual quotations that reference medieval masters, Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, William Turner, and great Romantic painters. The Berlin-based artist skillfully juggles these art historical references while engaging his audience with deliberately provocative titles and inventive verbal elements. In his masterful manner, he pays homage to what he calls "the god of problem-solving through innovation and redistribution from bottom to top."
Born in 1967, Sommer studied at the Leipzig University of Fine Arts under renowned professors Arno Rink and Sighard Gille, later becoming a master student under Gille. His artistic practice demonstrates remarkable openness in his approach to formats, creating works that range from narrow altar wing-like panels to square sections from his palette, where the relief-like surface of used paints hints at his earlier engagement with assemblage techniques.
The current exhibition at the Spinnerei gallery complex presents paintings dating from 2017 to the present, all united in their dramatic portrayal of the individual's disturbed relationship with nature. The show's title, "Reckoning Without the Host," points to the profound rootlessness in which humanity threatens to lose itself. In this dystopian visual world, hope struggles to remain alive, making Sommer's exhibition both a powerful artistic statement and a sobering reflection on contemporary environmental and social crises.
The exhibition runs until October 25 at Reiter Gallery, located at Spinnereistraße 7, Hall 6, and is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM, and Saturdays from 11 AM to 4 PM.
