Giraffe Manor #9

Introduction

Giraffe Manor

Klaus Thymann has a feel for places and moments so out of the ordinary that we question whether our eyes are deceiving us. “Giraffe Manor” actually exists in Nairobi, Kenya. Guests at the hotel share the grounds with a herd of endangered Rothschild giraffes from a nearby nature reserve. Only a few hundred of this subspecies remain in the wild. These curious animals like to poke their heads through the manor windows, and some even eat from the breakfast table – a thought that is as moving as it is bizarre. We cannot help but smile and marvel at the nearly surreal scenes Thymann captures.

Daniela Kummle

Nude and the City: Klaus Thymann’s Shanghai Nudes

To be noticed in a city of over 18 million is an art. Klaus Thymann confronts the backdrop of the anonymous megacity Shanghai with a pure sex appeal of Western making. The beautiful blond, who in public spaces is still restrained but in the supposed security of an endless landscape of rooftops sheds her cover, originate from the universe of a master of erotic photography: Helmut Newton. But different from Newton’s scenes, in Thymann’s photographs there is always a component of danger, of being discovered by the foreign residents of an exotic urban landscape. This creates a tension that can only emerge in places where cultures collide.

Klaus Thymann lives in London and has filmed music videos for bands and musicians such as Depeche Mode, Coldplay, and David Bowie. In many of his series he integrates elements of current trends of the most various subcultures. Shanghai, for instance, does not seem the shiny new product of a massive economic boom; rather, he shows its rough edges. The skyline and the luminous neon lights of the city are filtered through smoke; the beautiful visitors lie naked on cement. Thymann’s visual world does not look born of the superficial world of glamour. It is both authentic and unreal.

Horst Klöver

Bio

Klaus Thymann was born in 1974 in Denmark and opened his first studio in Copenhagen in 1995. He resides and works as a director in London.

Awards

2000	Award for the best music video, Danish Grammy Awards
1998	Award for the best music video of the year, Denmark
1996	Award as youngest participant ever, Kodak Gold Award

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2008	Hybrids, Exposure, London, UK
2007	Hybrids, book presentation and exhibition, New York, USA
2006	no.one, London, UK
	Bread & Butter Premium, Berlin, Germany
2005	Participation in Cannes Lion Advertising Festival, France
	r-s-v-p Galerie, Munich, Germany
2004	Viaux Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
	Participation in Onedotzero, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK

Group Exhibitions

2007	The First Nail, Blessing, New York, USA
	Paul Smith's Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
	New Face of Portraiture, Cosh Gallery, London, UK
2006	The design Annual, Hamburg, Germany