Thomas Demand is best known for his photographs of unique paper models that reconstruct scenes charged with historical, political and cultural significance, as well as everyday moments.

On the occasion of Gallery Weekend Berlin, Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present a solo exhibition of new works by Demand.

 

Gallery interior with four small photographs on white walls, concrete floor, arched window, white stool.

 

In 2025, he began working with a new technique, creating smaller-scale images printed on copper. The material has deep roots in art history: In the fifteenth century, goldsmiths’ techniques of engraving precious metals were adapted to copper plates for the purpose of making reproducible prints, with etching on copper following in the sixteenth century.

Photo of stacked books piled in towers against dark background, one book falling open mid-air.

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 58 cm | 33 1/2 × 22 7/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Books, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 58 cm | 33 1/2 × 22 7/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 58 cm | 33 1/2 × 22 7/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025

Thomas Demand
Books, 2025

Details
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Photo of arched church window with colorful oval glass panes in blue, yellow and beige tones.

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Window, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025

Thomas Demand
Window, 2025

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Across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was also favoured as a painting support by artists including Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam Elsheimer, David Teniers the Younger, and Nicolas Poussin. Its smooth surface made it suited to fine detail, and its durability helped it resist some of the deterioration associated with canvas or wood. In the nineteenth century, copper served as the support for the daguerreotype, the earliest commercially successful photographic process, in which light acted on a silver-coated plate to produce an image. It is, then, a material that engages with the histories of both painting and photography.

Close-up corner of photograph showing dense pattern of dark green clover leaves on black background.

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025 (detail)

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Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025 (detail)

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Across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was also favoured as a painting support by artists including Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam Elsheimer, David Teniers the Younger, and Nicolas Poussin. Its smooth surface made it suited to fine detail, and its durability helped it resist some of the deterioration associated with canvas or wood. In the nineteenth century, copper served as the support for the daguerreotype, the earliest commercially successful photographic process, in which light acted on a silver-coated plate to produce an image. It is, then, a material that engages with the histories of both painting and photography.

Photograph of densely packed green shamrocks filling entire frame, varying shades of emerald green.

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025
UV print on copper
52.4 × 44 cm | 20 5/8 × 17 1/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Photograph of dry reeds and grasses reflected in calm pale blue water surface.

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Photograph of white paper star ornaments hanging against spotted beige ceiling, varying sizes.

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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The first of these new images, Klee (2025), shows a close-up of a patch of clover—or shamrock, the three-leafed plant famously associated with Saint Patrick as an emblem of the Holy Trinity. Among the cutout forms, the occasional four-leafed variant can also be found, a rare deviation long regarded as a symbol of good luck.

In Schilf (2025), Demand has carefully reproduced a wetland scene, including the layered depth, tonal variation and organic forms of reeds. The seemingly reflective surface below, which suggests the soft distortion of frozen water, is made entirely of paper, heightening the work’s visual ambiguity.

Paperstars (2025) depicts white stars decorating a perforated acoustic ceiling of the kind found in public buildings, signalling a celebration. All three draw on a visual vocabulary so ubiquitous that viewers inevitably bring their own associations and memories to them.

image/svg+xml
Details

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025
UV print on copper
52.4 × 44 cm | 20 5/8 × 17 1/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025
UV print on copper
52.4 × 44 cm | 20 5/8 × 17 1/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025

Thomas Demand
Klee, 2025

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025

Thomas Demand
Schilf, 2025

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025
UV print on copper
80 × 60 cm | 31 1/2 × 23 5/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025

Thomas Demand
Paperstars, 2025

Details
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The first of these new images, Klee (2025), shows a close-up of a patch of clover—or shamrock, the three-leafed plant famously associated with Saint Patrick as an emblem of the Holy Trinity. Among the cutout forms, the occasional four-leafed variant can also be found, a rare deviation long regarded as a symbol of good luck.

In Schilf (2025), Demand has carefully reproduced a wetland scene, including the layered depth, tonal variation and organic forms of reeds. The seemingly reflective surface below, which suggests the soft distortion of frozen water, is made entirely of paper, heightening the work’s visual ambiguity.

Paperstars (2025) depicts white stars decorating a perforated acoustic ceiling of the kind found in public buildings, signalling a celebration. All three draw on a visual vocabulary so ubiquitous that viewers inevitably bring their own associations and memories to them.

Money (2025) is based on a still from the bizarre AI-generated video Donald Trump posted in early 2025, representing his “Gaza Riviera” plan. In it, a character resembling billionaire Elon Musk flings banknotes into the air against a sunset-lit sky, an image Demand distils and rebuilds by hand, collapsing digital artifice back into physical material.

Photograph of scattered green paper scraps falling against warm orange-to-deep-blue gradient sky.

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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image/svg+xml
Details

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025
UV print on copper
85 × 64 cm | 33 1/2 × 25 1/8 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025

Thomas Demand
Money, 2025

Details
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Money (2025) is based on a still from the bizarre AI-generated video Donald Trump posted in early 2025, representing his “Gaza Riviera” plan. In it, a character resembling billionaire Elon Musk flings banknotes into the air against a sunset-lit sky, an image Demand distils and rebuilds by hand, collapsing digital artifice back into physical material.

Gallery view with three photographs on white walls, woman in red jacket standing before stained glass work.

 

Photograph of dense carpet of fallen autumn leaves in red, orange and brown tones covering entire frame.

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026
UV print on copper
80 × 116 cm | 31 1/2 × 45 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026
UV print on copper
80 × 116 cm | 31 1/2 × 45 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026
UV print on copper
80 × 116 cm | 31 1/2 × 45 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026

Thomas Demand
Autumn, 2026

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“As a photographer, one often works with technical devices, but I’ve always liked to think with my hands, preparing my own materials and attending to every detail.” –Thomas Demand

Photograph of an oval hole in a grass lawn revealing dark soil and a stone beneath, viewed from above.

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025
UV print on copper
64 × 68 cm | 25 1/8 × 26 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025
UV print on copper
64 × 68 cm | 25 1/8 × 26 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025
UV print on copper
64 × 68 cm | 25 1/8 × 26 3/4 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025

Thomas Demand
Cavity, 2025

Details
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Photograph of a deep red square sheet of paper folded into four equal quadrants, minimalist composition.

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025
UV print on copper
46 × 46 cm | 18 × 18 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025
UV print on copper
46 × 46 cm | 18 × 18 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025
UV print on copper
46 × 46 cm | 18 × 18 inches
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025 (detail)

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025

Thomas Demand
Napkin, 2025

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Gallery interior with two small photographs on white wall: a grass hole and a red square, windows visible.

 

Two large-scale UV prints on Perspex are also on view in the exhibition. Melonen (2025) derives from a press image documenting confiscated contraband—fake melons containing methamphetamine—seized at the US-Mexico border. In an entirely different context, the watermelon was simultaneously circulating as a symbol of solidarity with Palestine. The photo also reminded Demand of Henri Matisse’s The Moroccans (1915–16), and as these layered associations suggest, the meaning of images can evolve, and multiply, over time.

Photograph of multiple blue plastic bins filled with striped watermelons in an indoor storage space.

Thomas Demand
Melonen, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
236.8 × 173.8 cm | 93 1/4 × 68 3/8 inches
245.8 × 182.6 cm | 96 3/4 × 72 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Melonen, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
236.8 × 173.8 cm | 93 1/4 × 68 3/8 inches
245.8 × 182.6 cm | 96 3/4 × 72 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Melonen, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
236.8 × 173.8 cm | 93 1/4 × 68 3/8 inches
245.8 × 182.6 cm | 96 3/4 × 72 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Melonen, 2025

Thomas Demand
Melonen, 2025

Details
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Two large-scale UV prints on Perspex are also on view in the exhibition. Melonen (2025) derives from a press image documenting confiscated contraband—fake melons containing methamphetamine—seized at the US-Mexico border. In an entirely different context, the watermelon was simultaneously circulating as a symbol of solidarity with Palestine. The photo also reminded Demand of Henri Matisse’s The Moroccans (1915–16), and as these layered associations suggest, the meaning of images can evolve, and multiply, over time.

Eis (2025) demonstrates this equally well. The photograph depicts the terrain of an iceberg in Greenland with intensely patterned crevasses, imagery that today evokes climate change and glacial melting. The Arctic, once portrayed through photography as a harsh and hostile environment, has been reframed as a romantic symbol of a vanishing landscape under threat.

Through such constructed worlds, the artist interrogates the paradoxes of perception, probing how we read our surroundings, how we remember them, and the ways we are influenced and manipulated by what we think we see.

 

Aerial photograph of a cracked glacier surface with blue ice walls and snow-filled crevasses below.

Thomas Demand
Eis, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
193.6 × 255.5 cm | 76 1/8 × 100 5/8 inches
202.6 × 264.3 cm | 79 3/4 × 104 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

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Thomas Demand
Eis, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
193.6 × 255.5 cm | 76 1/8 × 100 5/8 inches
202.6 × 264.3 cm | 79 3/4 × 104 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand
Eis, 2025
UV Print on Perspex in artist frame
193.6 × 255.5 cm | 76 1/8 × 100 5/8 inches
202.6 × 264.3 cm | 79 3/4 × 104 inches (framed)
Edition of 6 + 1 AP

Thomas Demand – Thomas Demand – Berlin

Thomas Demand
Eis, 2025

Thomas Demand
Eis, 2025

Details
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Whether capturing nature’s chance arrangements or AI’s dystopian visions, Demand’s work deftly navigates the space between sculpture and photography, illusion and image, and reality and interpretation.

Gallery room with large-framed glacier photograph on left wall and watermelon bins photograph on right.

All installation views: Timo Ohler