Thomas Putze (born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1968) is a contemporary sculptor and performance artist living and working in Stuttgart. He began his career in illustration and music but has focused increasingly on sculpture and interdisciplinary projects since the late 1990s. Putze studied sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart under Werner Pokorny and Michael Ullmann. He later taught drawing and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Nürtingen and has worked at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts as a lecturer and workshop leader since 2025.
Putze’s work is characterized by a distinctive sense of humor, improvisation, unexpected combinations of materials, and social criticism. Th. Putze often works according to the principle of junk art, transforming everyday objects into strange, living creatures that explore the relationship between humans and nature, the limits of civilization, and its fragility. Performance art plays an important role in his work, where the body becomes part of the sculpture and the action.
The artist has held many important exhibitions in Germany and abroad. Putze Canned at the Museum Biedermann (2013); Hals über Kopf at the Stern-Wywiol Gallery in Hamburg (2013–2014); Überlebende at the Schacher – Raum für Kunst Gallery in Stuttgart (2021–2022); Gasthaus, a collaboration with Gustas Jagminas, at the Kunstverein Wagenhalle in Stuttgart (2024); and participation in the international group exhibitions Nature Unlimited at the Museum Art.Plus (2024) and Weg vom Fenster at the Ruoff Stiftung in Nürtingen (2024).
Th. Putze collaborates with several galleries, including Schacher – Raum für Kunst (Stuttgart), Stern-Wywiol Galerie (Hamburg), Galerie Tobias Schrade (Ulm), Peter Tedden Galerie (Düsseldorf), and Knecht und Burster (Karlsruhe). His works are in private and public collections. The artist actively participates in art fairs and performance festivals.
Today, Th. Putze works as an independent sculptor in his Stuttgart studio, combining sculpture, drawing, installation, and performance into a coherent artistic practice.
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