THOMAS ENGELHART | 'MARBLE PAPER SCISSORS' AT EERDMANS IN NYC


A serious penchant for the genius of high fashion can inform the aesthetic eye of great artists. The debut collection of sumptuous obelisks and boxed baubles crafted from a painstaking fait à la main technique by the Thierry Mugler and Hermès designer turned sculptor Thomas Engelhart is a hard, jewel-toned testament to this. 

Engelhart’s anticipated solo show, entitled Marble Paper Scissors, will be on view at the Greenwich Village-based art gallery and advisory EERDMANS from June 22 to July 28. An invite-only garden party is slated to kick off the artist’s inaugural exhibition on the summer solstice evening of June 21st at the cognoscenti-approved New York City establishment.

Nodding to the likes of esoteric 18th-century architecture, crystalline rock formations, and a mishmash of ancient Egyptian artifacts, Englehart’s not-so-miniature miniatures deftly imbue a minimalist motif strewn with many layers of history and geological references for the viewer to peel back and relish.

Engelhart details to us how his sculptures—although a creative outlet replete with personal meaning—were a rather coincidental byproduct of the ennui and isolation brought on by the CDC-enforced lockdowns enacted to help curtail the spread of Covid-19 in recent years. 

As a focused artistic balm during uncertain times, the veritable antiquities the artist has built and painted by hand enabled the Studio Berçot and San Francisco Art Institute alumnus to cathartically channel a lifelong affinity for the classics into a fresher museum-worthy palette of original interior decor items that will soon be public-facing for the first time. 



Thomas! Huge congrats to you on your debut solo exhibit. How, would you say, your formidable fashion career has influenced your recent undertaking as a sculptor?

When you’re an integral part of a critical operation like designing luxury clothing at important French labels, you constantly fire on all cylinders. I guess in this way, my stint at Mugler and Hermès has uniquely honed my attention to detail and instilled in me a strong work ethic. Certainly, as an artist perfection is the desired outcome of a project so these skills without question come in handy. 

Where Hermès was a very functionality-based environment, Mugler was fantasy-based. And rather inadvertently, both of these features come together and are reflected in my art.

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