Andrea Thoma is an artist and researcher concerned with place and nomadic dwelling in the context of contemporary art.
She is particularly interested in the juxtaposition of diverse media and how this reflects on aspects of image making and the exploration of a differentiated time-space relation. Her practice is concerned with durational multiplicity and image perception in painting, photography and audio-visual installations.
Andrea considers the physicality of painting in relation to ideas of movement, colour and space. In her video and photographic work, she explores how our (inner) and also our technological processing of images is dependent on or correlated by our physical experience of the world through the body.
Andrea is also a lecturer at the University of Leeds School of Design. She holds a PhD (2013), and her thesis is titled Thought Dwellings: Time and Place in Painting, Photography and Video. She is member of the research network LAND2 concerned with landscape/place-oriented art practice.
Speaking to Andrea in her East Street Arts studio space at Barkston House, she told us about her experience with East Street Arts so far, as well as her upcoming exhibition with us in Patrick Studios in July:
“I’ve been with East Street Arts for a long time now in various different premises, but I’ve been based at Barkston House since it first opened. Barkston has all the advantages of 24 hour access, and what I appreciate about the space is being able to focus it around my painting. I also do video and photography but not in this space. This is dedicated solely to my painting. The natural light is lovely and it’s a space I cherish.
I really think the studio is very important in making and also thinking about work. Sometimes I come in and I plan for exhibitions, and I can also see how individual pieces relate to each other and shift them around. I can hang them and see how they look together, and think about configurations for exhibitions.
My next project is actually in the Project space at Patrick Studios. It is at the end of July and I am planning the exhibition to also be similar to a lab. There will be various moving image works, lots of paintings on site – some on the walls, some leaning and positioned more dynamically. There is a strong focus on movement and how the work will physically be presented in the space. I am interested in seeing how people respond to this”.
Andrea’s upcoming exhibition Colour Folds and Other Things: the Painted, Photographed and Filmed will be available to view in the Patrick Studios Project Space from 13th-20th July 2022. There will be a special exhibition preview on the 13th, and on the 20th Andrea and Dr Kevin Laycock from the University of Leeds School of Design will come together for a conversation on Abstraction in contemporary painting.
