This is what (some of) my loved ones have to say:
"Thomas Reitmayer. A man with a plan. What plan is that? I have no fucking clue. I bet he doesn't either, but that's fine. The plan at hand and the ends to achieve are unimportant. The thing to pay attention to is the means. You see, I know for a fact that Thomas is a big fan of Ed Templeton, of the Dischord and SST labels and artists, and, (in an exercise of lazy journalistic comparison considering this is a brief blurb for a photo exhibit), of Glen E Friedman. Like them, his work ethic is one based on effort and love. Giving 1000% just because you love what you're doing. Rewards and end results are unimportant. You do your shit. And everything else is just filler. Gray area. Bubble wrap around a new shiny toy. This becomes much too evident looking at the images before you. In an age where easily accessible technology makes a 'photographer' out of anybody with too much time and money on their hands, Reitmayer's pictures show an obvious link and a veiled homage to those who made history locked up in a dark room inhaling toxic chemicals. They are alive, plain and simple. Vibrant in their black and white, inanimate objects and anonymous landscape shots seem to have a strange, creepy energy to them. They live. And in this day and age that's pretty much all you can ask of anything that gets pushed your way." - Elías Martínez
"I clearly remember the first time I met Thomas Reitmayer. It was a January sunday night in Vienna, actually my first time there, playing with Obstacles at one of the small venues in the Arena area. After being introduced to him, we quickly found out that we shared common ground with our views on punk rock and aesthetics.
Thomas has always been a loyal supporter of Obstacles, but also one of our most vicious and honest critics - instantly spewing out his opinions, pros & cons with no filter whatsoever. As a friend and an artist, this honesty really means a lot. He always shows a "middle-finger-attitude" towards the world we live in, but when you get to know the person showing this middle finger, you meet a very heartfelt and generous person. Every time we play in Vienna, we know that Thomas will be there, taking pictures of us, sharing what is going on in his life, letting us crash on his floor and giving us lessons on the importance of Bruce Springsteen while we're all, in our drunken state, giving eachother stick 'n poke tattoos until the sun shows its rather unwelcome face in the morning.
Thomas Reitmayer has been a prolific personality in a wide palette of activities concerning the realm of punk rock and skateboarding culture in Europe for longer than most of us can even remember: running a record and skateboard store, releasing records, doing graphic art and posters for bands, documenting all of this with words and pictures along with his companions in the highly regarded GLW/DRK Magazine, and now having his debut exhibition of his photographic works entitled "Here, My Dear".
Until now, I was only familiar with Thomas' live-music photography through his modest, but beautiful spiral-bound book "Listen to Your Heart" - a documentation of various punk rock shows and, even more important, the faces behind the music. While asking me to write a few words about him, Thomas introduced me to his other work for the first time. First of all, I must admit that I, despite my slight interest in art and aesthetics, don't know a lot about this. So, these are not the words from some sort of art critic, but rather words from a person who has no idea about what he's talking about besides what he feels... Folks, isn't that what's the most important thing when it comes to art after all?
What’s striking me when I look at Thomas' work is the subtleties of his imagery. All the photographs are black & white, analog, raw, yet clear, and to some extent very fragile. They seem to have a diary-ish value, as they document sporadic captures of moments that could seem to be very everyday-like, both in their warmth of smiling faces and motives of objects that are fond to the artist, but also in their exploration of random details in the streets that you probably wouldn't notice by the first glance. These explorations, these captures of "common people", tell a bleak yet beautiful story of solitude, but what makes them special is that they never lose a sense of hope! These "common people", static objects, living statues in busy surroundings that are always moving, always on the run, seem peaceful and well aware of their relation to what is going on around them. Maybe they, like the Thomas Reitmayer that I know, show a refusal to be part of this stressful hassle that our world is built upon. I can only guess and speculate about what he wants to tell us. What about you? What do you think? Listen to your heart..." - Jeppe Street Jarlstrøm, Obstacles
There will be a limited and handnumbered fanzine.
January 17th, 2011 through Feburary 19th, 2011
Hours: Mon through Fri 12 - 6 PM, Sat 12 - 5 PM
Yummy
Stumpergasse 31
1060 Wien
Austria
www.yummy.at
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