For the first time in London, Thomas Mailaender will exhibit together diverse works inspired from his ‘Fun Archive’- a personal collection he started in 2000, which now consists of more than 11000 amateur images. Throughout his practice he has employed varied and alternative printing techniques to elevate his collected souvenirs into the line of art. Featuring his new series of ceramics, his cyanotypes, as well as a fantastic selection of works from his contemporaneous projects: Les Belles Images and his Chicken Museum relics, Solo Chaud explores Mailaender’s methods of exploiting his archived images and shows how his innovative practice drives a new mode of art making, built from a merged position as a photographer, curator and collector.
With the growing interest in contemporary ceramics Mailaender’s unique mixed media sculptures certainly arouse curiosity and elude expectations. Shifting both between materials and representation, his novel pieces defy categorisation as sculpture, photography or pottery. As painted tile becomes sculptural base and photograph becomes object, Mailaender emerges as an idiosyncratic talent of contemporary art today.