Motif Fleeces

The motif fleeces are technically closely related to the colour fleeces, as here too the work is made of pure colour material without any other image carrier. Thomas Emde uses "commonplace" motifs such as clouds, waves and waterfalls as a model for his pictures. Dot-screened reproductions of the motifs are converted into glass matrices, which precisely determine the position and thickness of the colour nubs. As in the gravure printing process, ink is distributed on the matrix and forms the colour ground with the nap grid. The individual nubs are further built up from different layers of colour, so that the result is an iridescent picture motif. In 1997 Thomas Emde created the monumental Cloud Fleece for the Commerzbank high-rise building, the largest transportable picture in art history to date.