source: designboom
since the romantic period, landscape has furthermore become an aesthetic position. german artist thomas wrede‘s photorealistic representation extended through staging and intervention combines the natural beauty of landscapes with constructed miniature models. in doing this, the scenic outdoors photographed in this manner appear seductively plausible and exaggerate the romantic projection.
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source: galerie-wagner-partner
*1964, Lethmate, Germany

Thomas Wrede’s internationally exhibited serial works often challenge our concept and relationship with nature, landscape and imagery. His series simultaneously trigger a sense of familiarity and unfamiliarity. Wrede’s choices of familiar scenes often induce a sense of nostalgia. However with the manipulation of the compositions and lighting effects of his photos, a feeling of uneasiness is inevitably evoked.
The idea behind Wrede’s work is aptly summarized by the artist regarding one of his series, :
“For the past 20 years, the vantage point of my work has always begun with a deep emotional need to be linked with nature and the question of how this is presented within today’s media. I am inclined to explore the boundaries between simulation and reality. In the series Real Landscapes (2004 – 2013), I reproduce the world as a sort of model kit. Large impact scenes are presented on a very small scale. Images and replicas vacillate between the idyllic and the catastrophic.”

Wrede lives and works in Münster.
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source: galerie-wagner-partner
*1964, Lethmate, Deutschland

Thomas Wrede zeigt in seinen vielfältigen Fotoserien immer wieder die Idee von Natur und ihrer Abbildung. Es entstehen vertraute und zugleich irritierende Landschaftsbilder. Oft sind diese Serien international ausgestellt worden und einem großen Publikum bekannt. Sehr sorgfältig wählt Thomas Wrede seine Szenen und das Licht und erzeugt Sehnsuchts- oder manchmal sogar Bedrohungsgefühle. Zur Serie sagt der Künstler:
„Der Ausgangspunkt meiner fotografischen Arbeiten ist immer wieder die Sehnsucht nach der Natur und die Frage nach ihrer medialen Vermittlung. Ich möchte die Grenzen zwischen Modell und Wirklichkeit aufsuchen. In meinen Fotografien wird die Welt als eine Art Modelbausatz wiedergegeben, als eine Inszenierung mit großer Geste im kleinen Maßstab, als Bild und Nachbildung zwischen Idylle und Katastrophe.”

Thomas Wrede lebt und arbeitet in Münster.
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source: all-about-photo
Thomas Wrede was born in 1963 in Iserlohn (Germany). He studied Fine Art in Muenster and Berlin. From 1998 until 2005 he taught photography at the Kunstakademie Muenster. During the last few years numerous exhibitions presented his works in- and outside of Germany. Particularly, the solo exhibitions at the Museum Kunst der Westkueste, Alkersum (2010), the Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2010) and at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Koeln (2007) and the following group exhibitions should be mentioned: at the National Museum for History and Art, Luxembourg (2013), the Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea (2011) and the Art Museum, Wuhan, China (2009). Since 1998 Wrede has shown his works in several galeries of the United States (New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Wrede’s photographs have also been placed in these major art collections: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Landesmuseum Muenster, The West Collection Philadelphia, Kunst-am-Bau-projects in Berlin for the German State, UBS Zuerich & Lucerne, DZ-Bank Frankfurt. The artist won some important awards, among others the Karl-Hofer-Preis of the Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin. Thomas Wrede published all photographic series in several nice books.

About Real Landscape from the Press Release by Beck & Eggeling:
Thomas Wrede already counts as an established position to the Duesseldorf photography scene. His large format, quiet, but also dramatic landscape photographs fascinate in a particular way, as the observer immediately feels himself confronted with all the facets of human existence. Idyll and catastrophe, longing and debacle form the fine line of atmospheres which through Wrede’s complex direction have a thought-provoking effect. Scenic cloud formations or glistening sunsets at the horizon blur the boundaries further. Point of origin of his photographic works is time and again the longing for nature. Wrede thereby utilizes in his „Real Landscapes“-series requisites from model railways, placing miniature houses and trees into real nature – at the beach, into the snow or in a nearby puddle. Yet, only a small excerpt of nature measuring at most a few steps in circumference is of concern. The observer’s perception is thus set on the wrong track because in the photograph the whole setting is perceived in line with the size of the trees and houses. The illusion, generated through the inconsistencies and discrepancies of the proportions, is the result of Wrede’s skilful use of his analogue plate camera with wide angle – he interferes with scales and reduces distances. A puddle thereby becomes a lake, a pile of snow turns into snowcapped mountain ranges and a few centimetres of even sand become a milelong beach.