Harald Reiner Gratz, one of the most significant painters in Thuringia today, and Thomas Thieme, one of the most renowned German-speaking actors, a familiar face in film and television, took part in an experiment: the painter Gratz observed, studied and presented a portrait of the character actor over a period of three years.

An illustrative cycle was the result of this artistic encounter. Figure and action, space and time, painterly virtuosity and expressivity meet in paintings, drawings and photo-collages in the almost forgotten subject of the portrait of the artist. That which is seen is connected to imaginative scenes; that which is externally experienced to the internal images of the painter.

Biographies

Harald Reiner Gratz
1962 born in Schnellbach
1985–1988 Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle, Burg Giebichenstein
1989–1991 studies fine arts and graphic art at the Hochschule für Bildende
Künste Dresden with Hubertus Giebe and Werner Liebmann
numerous national scholarships and awards
lives and works in Schmalkalden

Thomas Thieme
1948 born in Weimar
actors school in East Berlin
national and international engagements, work as director, speaker of audio plays and audio books
well known from numerous German-speaking film and TV productions among others “Tatort”
lives and works in Weimar and Berlin