Many of the early works by Thomas Helbig (*1967) bring about a sense of claustrophobia. Combining painted found objects and fragments, his dark vegetal sculptures seem to produce terrifying figures that look as if they could have come out of one of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings. The artist’s pastose “portraits” from this period subvert clear spatial structures and the faces of those portrayed; through their artistic aggression, they transport a sense of horror at the human condition.The works Helbig has produced in the past two years—the focus of this volume—however, seem altogether less gloomy. His brightly colored chalk drawings, for instance, feature fragile structures reminiscent of the symbols of nature in Japanese scrolls. The Hobbes quote in the book’s title, Homo homini lupus, seems to have been employed here for its original, neutral meaning: the human being in his natural state.Exhibition schedule: Kunstverein Oldenburg April 4–May 25, 2008