Presentation
Born in Romania, twin brothers, artists Gert and Uwe Tobias, attract international attention for their surrealist and carnivalesque prints, drawings, collages, engravings and sculptures. Combined with both traditional Romanian myth and legend, as well as comtemporary elements, their traditional use of folk art—woodcuts, embroidery and lace— evokes cultural nostalgia, while their contemporary aesthetic refers and renews Geometric Abstraction. Their artworks with colourful puppets, fantastic birds and industrially produced objects depict an imaginary world where the importance of ornament is constantly questioned. Gert and Uwe Tobias’ eerie anthropomorphic figures seem to be suspended in mid-air without hierarchy, a feeling enhanced by the collage technique.
Biography
Gert and Uwe Tobias were born in Braşov, Romania in 1973. Then the twin brothers moved to Germany in 1985 and studied at the College of Fine Arts in Brunswick. They have lived and worked in Cologne since 2002. They are well-known for their woodcut prints on canvas as well as sculptures, drawings using typewriters, watercolours and ceramics.
The artists have hosted several solo exhibitions in Europe and America including FRAC Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Art in The Hague, Kunstmuseum in Bonn, and Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna to name a few. In the United States, their major personal exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and UCLA Hammer Museum of Art in Los Angeles. In 2014, the artists exhibited at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium. The artists won the Cologne Fine Art Prize by the Federal Association of German Galleries in 2007.
Exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions
2019
Enough Room To Swing A Cat, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018
Not enough room to swing a cat, Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Auf, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany
Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong, China
2017
rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2016
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Collagen, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Grisaille, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
Drawings and Sculptures, Team Gallery, New York, NY USA
2015
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
2014
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Maureen Paley, London, UK
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
2013
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, Ravensburg, Germany
Untitled ‘13, Team Gallery, New York, NY USA
Gert & Uwe Tobias, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Gert & Uwe Tobias, The Gallery at Windsor, Miami, FL, USA
2012
FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Der Kunstverein, seit 1817. , Hamburg, Germany
Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden, Germany
2011
Kunstsaele Berlin, Germany
Jorg Grimm, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Maureen Paley, London, UK
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
Gemeentemuseum, Den Haage, The Netherlands
