The continual effort to preserve the haze between abstraction and materiality has been and continues to be the central theme of Thomas Eggerer’s eminent body of work. The artist carefully moves through each stage of the process over the course of two decades, from ideation to execution. In order to keep the abstract connections between the figures separated and trapped in the flux of a nameless, unknowable universe of flickering interactions, such a principle is required. The way Eggerer portrays the individual or communal body in various, yet commonplace circumstances implies that he feels the need to emphasise the irony of existence with almost philosophical zeal.
In his works, Eggerer creates tensions, inconsistencies, and twisted uncertainties. He is not creating imposing monuments to the significance of painting in the modern world. Instead, he employs shrewd strategizing to convey a wariness and scepticism of the constraints and perceptual tricks of surfaces through the use of the painting’s surface. Even when a distinct political message might not be obvious, a diffuse, impersonal, and occasionally erotic political weariness is.