Thomas Zipp (*1966 in Heppenheim) studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main under Thomas Bayrle and Martin Kippenberger and at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. In recent years, he has attracted public attention through a number of exhibitions in galleries in such cities as Berlin, Madrid, and New York. Zipp's imagery blends New Age thought patterns with provocative spiritual irony. Religion, cult, and myth, drugs and violence-the subjects chosen by the Berlin artist are anything but ordinary. His art is an emphatic appeal for the "thorn in the flesh" and "against all convention." Apart from the motifs themselves, what makes Zipp's richly allusive works so unsettling is their complete absence of hierarchies and value judgments. The book presents paintings, drawings, collages, and installations completed by the artist since 2003, including a number of very new works that have never been shown in public until now. Exhibition schedule: Oldenburger Kunstverein, September 11-October 23, 2005