Thomas Renwart

BIO | SELECTED WORKS | CV

Thomas Renwart graduated in 2019 at LUCA School of Arts gaining his masters in Textiles. He developed a textiles practice where crafts-ship and poetic depictions of a horticultural universe constantly meet. Starting with written matter, a world is built around it, carefully translated into tactile matter. Thomas' techniques are jacquard weaving, embroidery, quilting and digital printing. His career started with a weaving speciality in the Damask technique, where he delves into the many ways of how this technique can grow. Monochromic weaving to him, enhances the viewing experience. In recent years, he has returned to the essence of needle and thread, focusing on embroidery as a reference to the female lineage of his family across two generations, along with all the traditions and meanings associated with it.

He creates all of his works based on encounters and experiences from his own life and surroundings. His identity as a queer person and his experience with Tourette syndrome run through the work as a recurring thread, not as dominant themes, but as underlying elements that subtly inform his practice. Currently, he has also returned to weaving in his studio, resulting in an oeuvre that now encompasses a wide range of techniques and expressions, each occupying its own distinct place within his artistic practice.

Renwart has yet participated in several gallery and insitutional exhibitions in Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany and USA. In 2020 he had a solo at Kunsthal Gent ‘Gilding The Lily’ which was followed with a large installation as part of the ‘Endless Exhibition’. In 2021 the artist was laureate of the Dorothy Waxman Prize 2021 by Parsons (NY, USA) and also won two Henry Van De Velde award for his work as a textile artist. In the same year his artist book ‘Comme si de rien n'était: Catalogue & Cahier Intime’ was published by MER. B&L. In the beginning 2022 he had a solo in the Europe House (London, UK) by invitation of the Belgian Embassy and later that year the Flemish government acquired a work for the collection of the Flemish Community which is given on loan to the Mu.Zee collection in Ostend. In 2023 he has his first solo show ‘Highway Vagabond’ at Barbé gallery followed by a solo at Kunsthalle Lissabon in December 2023. In 2024 he had a solo at Thomas Rehbein (Cologne, DE) in 2024 followed by a group show at Stedelijk Museum Aarschot. In 2025 he participated in the inaugural exhibition at the ABBY Museum in Kortrijk.