Constantly on the search for modes of expression in painting, Thomas Emde has intensively occupied himself with subjects such as light, colour, and material in his more than twenty years experience as a painting artist. Subjects that are closely linked, as colour is not only perceived as a material carrier, but also as light. In this context, it does not come as a surprise that, through his experiments with colour and it's effect, he has gradually developed a very unconventional, individual means of expression for colour and shape – a technique, he became well known through and enabled him to patent.

The consistency of the colour allows painter Thomas Emde to completely refrain using any carrier material and create a painting, which he calls fleece, characterized by a knopped surface. It is the movement that is emphasized on the colour fleeces – not the images, such as the waves, clouds or waterfalls that are meant to convey a message nor the colours themselves as a means of forming an object. The technique and choice of colours all play a part in expressing movement. Since the fleece is composed of many different colour layers, the colouration and shape change with the incidence of light and also with the perspective of the spectator. If the colour fleece is hung in front of a window, the room is bathed in the colour of the fleece because it is also translucent. Painting, light, and room interact directly and, because they form a unit, they cannot be separated.


Fascination of light

To those who have occupied themselves with Thomas Emde’s work, it seems only logical that, as a result of his fascination with the phenomena of light, colour, and material, his works have become increasingly immaterial.

This background also has to be taken into account when looking at his current projects, for which he uses light as the only "material” and where space and architecture are becoming increasingly important as components of his art.

First of all, his light walls should be mentioned here, walls containing fluorescent tubes, which can be dimmed steplessly and complementarily to each other in a very slow manner using an electronic control programmed by the artist. This way, every colour of the visible spectrum can be generated. This means of expression is called RGB and is based on the colours R=Red, G=Green, B=Blue, which can be additively mixed. Using this means of expression, Thomas Emde is able to emphasize on colour and light changes as central themes.

Depending on the type of room, the light walls are installed in different sizes and influence the whole atmosphere of a room through their constantly changing colour and light arrangements. The changing light source integrates time and the room itself into the piece of art. The recipient, too, becomes part of the light installation. It allows him or her to experience light consciously through the situation created by the artist since light defines and changes the perception of rooms or the architecture of a building and activates the senses by provoking the spectator to analyse and meditate while observing. Things considered familiar can thus turn into a new experience.

Light artist Thomas Emde has created a network to fulfil his needs, consisting of light companies, architects, art historians, lighting planners, and lighting engineers. This network specialises on the realisation of architecture-related artistic lighting projects. Synergies are created between the fields of art, light, and architecture and this way, it is possible to find new context-related artistic approaches to the conception and implementation of lighting projects.

Thomas Emde does not want to simply illuminate architecture but wants to understand and create architectual light illustration. The aim: "We want to stand for lighting quality which takes artistic aspects into consideration. We want to go beyond the term "Kunst am Bau” (art in architecture), since our illumination is intended to become an integrative element of architecture. This means that we do not want to simply illuminate buildings but to use lighting to define the art of the building and to design lighting that interprets architecture”.

The result is expected to be a piece of art on it's own. It is a light sculpture – a light image of the architecture.


In addition to the aspect of light, which includes the development and implementation of artistic lighting conceptions for architects and clients, the following aspects comprise his field of work:

Art: Creation of pieces of art and the organisation of exhibitions, installations, projects, art-theory concepts, communication, and integration.

Consulting: Concept development for universities and research facilities, lighting consultancy for city master plans, investors and planers

Research: Development of patents, joint development with manufacturers and product development.