81. TOMMA ABTS
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Feio, 2007
Acrylic and oil on canvas
19 x 15 inches (48 x 38 cm)
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Untitled #5, 2013
Colored pencil and pencil on paper 33 1/8 x 23 3/8 inches (84.1 x 59.4 cm) |
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Oijen, 2014
Acrylic and oil on canvas
18 7/8 x 15 inches (48 x 38 cm) |
BIO & STEPS
Born:
In 1967 in Kiel, Germany
Nowadays:
Lives and works in London.
Studies:
1988-1995 Hochschule der Künste Berlin
Themes and
style:
She makes
complex paintings and works on paper whose subject is ultimately the process of
their creation. She begins each work with no preconceived composition and idea,
and without preliminary sketches. Guided largely by intuition, she nevertheless
works within precise parameters. The paintings' evolution is evidenced by
ridges and uneven texture—the result of methodical overpainting and reworking
of the image. While abstract, the works are still illusionistic, rendered with
sharp attention to shadows, three-dimensional effects, and highlights that defy
any single, realistic light source. The resulting canvases convey balance and
movement, while maintaining a sense of uncertainty, which seems akin to memory.
Techniques:
Her work
is developed in paintings.
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Tomma Abts, David Zwirner, New York
Mainly Drawings, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado [catalogue
forthcoming in 2015]
2013 Tomma Abts, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
2011 Tomma Abts, greengrassi, London
Tomma Abts, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf [artist book and catalogue]
2009 Tomma Abts, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
2008 Tomma Abts, David Zwirner, New York
Tomma Abts, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
[itinerary: Hammer Museum, Los
Angeles] [catalogue]
2006 Tomma Abts, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Tomma Abts, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
2005 Tomma Abts, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
Tomma Abts, greengrassi, London [catalogue]
Tomma Abts, Kunsthalle Basel [catalogue]
2004 Journal #7, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
[catalogue] [two-person exhibition
with Vincent Fecteau]
Tomma Abts, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
2003 Recent Works, greengrassi, London
Tomma Abts, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Tomma Abts, The Wrong Gallery, New York
2002 Paintings, greengrassi, London
Tomma Abts & Vincent Fecteau, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles
[two-person exhibition]
2001 Tomma Abts, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
1999 Paintings, greengrassi, London
1998 Tomma Abts, habitat, Kings Road, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Abstract Drawing, Drawing Room, London
Persian Rose Chartreuse Muse Vancouver Grey, Equinox Gallery,
Vancouver
2013 Elie Nadelman, Jim Nutt, Tomma Abts, Vincent Fecteau,
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Painting Now: Five Contemporary Artists, Tate Britain, London
[catalogue]
2012 Architectural Dispositions, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los
Angeles
Automaton, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Contemporary Painting, 1960 to the Present: Selections from
the SFMOMA Collection, San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Rendezvous der Maler II: Malerei an der Kunstakademie
Düsseldorf 1986 bis heute/Rendezvous
of the Painters II: Painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy
from 1986 until today,
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf - Galerie Die Neue Sammlung,
Düsseldorf [catalogue]
Stand still like the hummingbird, David Zwirner, New York
Summer Exhibition 2012, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2011 Absentee Landlord, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis,
Minnesota
The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from
the 1960s to Now, Tate St. Ives, St.
Ives, England [itinerary: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry,
England]
Public Private Paintings, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium
Seeing is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, Museum of
Contemporary Art Chicago
Quodlibet III – Alphabets and Instruments, Galerie Daniel
Buchholz, Berlin
2010-2012 Made In Britain: Contemporary Art from the British
Council Collection 1980-2010, Sichuan
Provincial Museum, Chengdu, China [itinerary: Xi'an Art
Museum, Xi'an, China; Hong
Kong Heritage Museum; Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China; Benaki
Museum, Athens;
National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania]
2010 At Home/Not At Home: Works from the Collection of Martin
and Rebecca Eisenberg, CCS Bard
Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
[catalogue]
2009 4th Tirana Biennial: The Symbolic Efficiency of the
Frame, Tirana, Albania [catalogue]
Cave Painting, PSM Gallery, Berlin
Quodlibet II, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Selected Works, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Slow Paintings, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
[catalogue]
2008 The Gallery, David Zwirner, New York
Yes, No & Other Options, Art Sheffield 08, Sheffield,
England
2007 Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Tate Britain, London
[itinerary: Moscow Museum of Modern Art;
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo] [catalogue]
2006 4th Berlin Biennial: Von Mäusen und Menschen/Of Mice and
Men, Berlin [catalogue]
6th Shanghai Biennale: Hyper Design, Shanghai [catalogue]
Axis of Praxis, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis,
Minnesota
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln, at Metro Pictures, Metro
Pictures, New York
Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London [catalogue]
2005 British Art Show 6, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art,
Gateshead, England [organized by The
Hayward Gallery, London and traveled to various venues in
England]
2004 54th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art,
Pittsburgh [catalogue]
3
Formalismus: Moderne Kunst, heute, Kunstverein Hamburg
[catalogue]
Müllberg, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Werke aus der Sammlung Boros, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und
Medientechnologie Karlsruhe,
Germany [catalogue]
2003 Black Rainbow, Lucky Tackle, Oakland, California
Der Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Kunsthalle
Bremen, Bremen, Germany [catalogue]
deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Frankfurter Kunstverein,
Frankfurt [catalogue]
Honey I Rearranged the Collection, greengrassi and
Corvi-Mora, London
Hot, Blue and Righteous, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
2002 Richard Hawkins & Tomma Abts, Lecia Dole-Recio,
Morgan Fisher, James Hayward, Galerie
Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
2001 7th Istanbul Biennial: Egofugal: Fugue from Ego for the
Next Emergence, Istanbul [catalogue]
The Devil is in the Details, Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston
[catalogue]
1999 Etcetera, Spacex Gallery, Exeter, England
Limit Less, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
1998 Tomma Abts, Steve Dowson, Gareth Jones: The Origins of
Parties, greengrassi, London
The Vauxhall Gardens, Norwich Art Gallery, Norwich, England
1996 Fast, 520 King Street West, Toronto
1995 filmcuts, Galerie neugerriemschneider, Berlin
MONOGRAPHS & SOLO EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2015 Tomma Abts: Mainly Drawings. Texts by Bob Nickas, Katy
Siegel, and Heidi Zuckerman
Jacobson. Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (exh. cat.)
[forthcoming]
2011 Tomma Abts. Texts by Magdalena Holzhey and Gregor
Jansen. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther
König, Cologne (exh. cat.)
Tomma Abts. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne
[artist book published on the
occasion of Tomma Abts, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf]
2008 Tomma Abts. Texts by Bruce Hainley, Laura Hoptman, and
Jan Verwoert. Phaidon Press, New
York (exh. cat.)
2005 Tomma Abts. Edited by Daniel Buchholz and Christopher
Müller. Text by Jan Verwoert. Interview
with the artist by Peter Doig. Galerie Daniel Buchholz,
Cologne and greengrassi, London
(exh. cat.)
Tomma Abts. Text by Adam Szymczyk. Kunsthalle Basel (exh.
cat.)
2004 Tomma Abts & Vincent Fecteau. Texts by Phillip van
den Bossche and Lynn George.
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (exh. cat.)
AWARDS
2006 Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London
2004 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award, London
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Art Institute of Chicago
Arts Council England, London
British Council, London
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Cubitt, London
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sammlung Boros, Berlin
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Tate Britain, London
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
In his own words:
"Maybe some galleries and artists
would do that, but not the people I work with." She considers art a
calling, not a career, and she didn't go into it to make money - well, who
does? Actually, she says, she thinks young artists today have a rather warped
attitude in this regard. "It seems that these young artists think of it as
a career choice, to do art; they think that it will pay off and they'll make
money." She looks doubtfully out the window. "Maybe they will."
Representative
Galleries:
David Zwirner
Green Grassy
For
more Information:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/dec/06/art.turnerprize2006