Thomas Schütte has frequently cast himself into the role of a maverick - remained remote from the work of his artistic mentors, distanced himself from the statements of each ephemeral Zeitgeist, and increasingly contradicted his own positions - and, in so doing, has become one of the most influential artists of his generation. Shifting from text to image, to object, to book, his work juxtaposes biographical moments with contemporary events, oscillates between the aspiration to shape the public reception of architecture and monumental sculpture and the conjunctive of the tinker and the model-maker, and projects avantgardist ideas onto traditional forms of art. With meticulous rigor Ulrich Loock has observed the evolution of Schütte's output over the past 25 years. Underpinning his lucid overview are a series of intensive discussions between the author and the artist on the genesis and histories of the single works.

Ulrich Loock, geb. 1953, war von 1985 - 1997 Direktor der Kunsthalle Bern, von 1997 - 2001 Direktor des Kunstmuseum Luzern, uns ist seit 2003 Stellvertretender Direktor des Museu Serralves in Porto, Portugal. Er veröffentlichte zahlreiche Publikationen zur Kunst der Gegenwart, darunter ein monographischer Essay über Luc Tuymans (1996).