Thompson’s Work Appears in Munich Art Exhibit

Despite all our human intelligence, we have a desire for a higher entity. Associate Professor of Art and Design and Department Chair Ryan Thompson is expressing that desire through his piece “Hot Rocks,” which is part a German art gallery exhibit that opens on Jan. 14. The exhibit, “Echo of untouched matter,” is at the Lothringer13 Halle in Munich. “Echo of untouched matter tells of the curious human urge to act, to know, and to create,” according to the institution’s website. “It pursues ideas of friendly and humble co-existence. Two American, two Japanese, and two Munich artists act with a curious, respectful, or puzzled view of our relationships with other and unfamiliar life forms.”

Thompson takes seriously his responsibility as a Christian to promote renewal in work and life, bear witness to God’s grace, and encourage the exploration of belief, knowledge, and the physical world. As he says on his faculty homepage, “As an artist and educator, I continually seek out ways to promote renewal in the world, both in my personal practice and in my interactions with students.”

Thompson has visited the theme of “hot rocks” before. In 2014, he co-authored a book with Phil Orr called “Bad Luck, Hot Rocks: Conscience Letters and Photographs from the Petrified Forest.” The book brings together so-called conscience letters — the correspondences that former visitors to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona send when they return stolen, and notoriously unlucky, rocks. In a review, “Los Angeles Times” book critic David L. Ulin described “Bad Luck, Hot Rocks” as “my favorite sort of book: a collection of detritus, overlooked and long forgotten, that adds up to an unexpected narrative.”

Along with Thompson’s piece, the exhibit includes works by Atsushi Wada, Jason Fulford, Katrin Petroschkat, Shimabuku, and Ulrich Gebert. “Echo of untouched matter” is scheduled to run through March 20. Lothringer13 Halle is an institution for international, contemporary art run by Jörg Koopmann and Dana Weschke and funded by the city of Munich.