The 2004 Massey University Rita Angus Visual Artist in Residence is leading German artist Thomas Bayrle. He arrives in Wellington today.

Bayrle is internationally regarded as an interdisciplinary artist working in a range of media including sculpture, painting and video. He is best known for his large digital prints that are plastered across the entire interior of art galleries. These works have examined the themes of urban dwelling, portraiture and banality, and the interface between digital and analogue technologies. Bayrle has exhibited widely in Germany, the United States, Japan and China, and has had numerous books and catalogues published on his work.

Image: Mister Big, Thomas Bayrle , 1971
The 2004 Massey University Rita Angus Visual Artist in Residence is leading German artist Thomas Bayrle. He arrives in Wellington today.

Bayrle is internationally regarded as an interdisciplinary artist working in a range of media including sculpture, painting and video. He is best known for his large digital prints that are plastered across the entire interior of art galleries. These works have examined the themes of urban dwelling, portraiture and banality, and the interface between digital and analogue technologies. Bayrle has exhibited widely in Germany, the United States, Japan and China, and has had numerous books and catalogues published on his work.

Image: Mister Big, Thomas Bayrle , 1971

Bayrle has concerned himself with questions of mass production, mass mobility, the phenomenon of mass rallies and the standardisation of lives.

He will be working at the School of Fine Arts' residency studio in Wellington during August and September, and will give a public lecture on his work. He will also hold regular open studios for students. He is keen to involve students in the production and installation of the work he will be creating for The Dowse in September.

Massey's School of Fine Arts Research Director Anne Noble says, "This is a marvellous opportunity for students and a significant contribution to the contextual studio teaching and learning environment."

The artist-in-residence programme is a key component of the Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts Degree programme.

The residency provides the opportunity for eminent artists from New Zealand and overseas to develop a body of work in Wellington. The University provides a proportion of the honorarium as well as the studio space, and the artist lives in the Rita Angus cottage in Thorndon.

This residency is a partnership between Massey University, the Goethe-Institut German Cultural Centre, The Dowse, and the Thorndon Trust.