Tomma Abts

Tomma Abts (born 26 December 1967)[1] is a German-born visual artist known for her abstract oil paintings. Abts won the Turner Prize in 2006.[2] She currently lives and works in London, England.[3]

Tomma Abts
Born (1967-12-26) 26 December 1967
Kiel, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forPainting

Early life and education

Abts was born in 1967 in Kiel, Germany,[2][4] to a teacher in a primary school and a gynecologist.[5] Between 1989-1995 Abts attended the Hochschule der Künste Berlin.[2] She has been living in London since 1995,[6] and maintains a studio in Clerkenwell, which she has occupied since first coming to London on a grant.[5] It was only in 2002, that she was able to live solely from her paintings.[5]

Work

Starting each of her works without a preconceived idea, knowing only the size of the canvas and her materials,[7] Abts works in acrylic and oil, often building up her designs from repetitive geometrical elements. Her style can be classified as abstract, but also in opposition to Germany's Neo-Expressionist figurative painting.[8] None of her paintings are representational. There are no references to nature, the world or any other theme. The abstraction in her paintings is supported by the lack of detail and an overall retro feel. The paintings do not follow the traditional rules of abstract art.reference They involve complex shapes that are layered and woven in different ways with added highlights, shadows and sense of depth.[9]

Abts used to work on canvasses of all sizes.[5] Since the early 2000s, all of Abts' paintings are 48 x 38 centimeters and the titles of her paintings are derived from a dictionary of German first names. She has said that this is the size and style that works for her.[10] Each work takes on a color scheme that is rich and somewhat neutral. The colors are not obviously vibrant and work with each other's tones within each work of art.[8] Abts creates a 3D effect by continually and meticulously layering and working up each painting. The works are thickly painted, almost over-painted, which gives a hint of something created by trial and error. It seems as though the layers of paint could be covering up something underneath the finished product. "Abts approaches each canvas without preconception, building up layers of paint until a form crystallizes."[11] Abts takes a long time to produce her works, and she is not prolific.[12] She also has begun to translate her paintings into prints, particularly with the acclaimed Crown Point Press in San Francisco, California.[13]

Recognition

Abts is the winner of the 2006 Turner Prize, awarded by the Tate in London.[10][14] The Tate Gallery praised "her rigorous and consistent approach to painting" and added "Through her intimate and compelling canvases she builds on and enriches the language of abstract painting."[15] The other artists on the shortlist in 2006 were Rebecca Warren, Phil Collins (artist), and Mark Titchner.[2] Abts was the first female painter to win the award.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions
  • habitat, Kings Road, London (1998)
  • greengrassi, London (2005, 2002, 1999)
  • Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin (2004, 2001)
  • The Wrong Gallery, New York (2003)
  • Galerie Buchholz, Koln (2006, 2003)
  • Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin (2009, 2004)
  • Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2005)
  • Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2005)[16]
  • Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Koln (2006)
  • Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany (2006)
  • David Zwirner, New York (2008)[3]
  • New Museum, New York (2008)[17]
  • Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf (2011)[18]
  • greengrassi, London (2011)[19]
  • Galerie Buchholz, Berlin (2013)[20]
  • David Zwirner, New York (2014)[21]
  • Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2014)[22]
  • "Tomma Abts: Four New Etchings", Crown Point Press, San Francisco (2015) [23]
  • David Zwirner, New York (2019)

Selected group exhibitions
  • filmcuts, Galerie neugerriemschneider, Berlin (1995)
  • Fast, 520 King Street West, Toronto (1996)
  • The Vauxhall Gardens, Norwich Art Gallery, Norwich (1998)
  • Honey, I rearranged the collection and Origin of Parties, greengrassi, London (2003, 1998)
  • Limit Less, Galerie Krinzinger, Wien (1999)
  • Etcetera, Spacex Gallery, Exeter (1999)
  • Egofugal 7th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2001)
  • The Devil is in the Detail, Alliston Skirt Gallery, Boston (2001)
  • Tomma Abts & Vincent Vecteau, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles (2002)[24]
  • Quodlibet II and Mullberg and Richard Hawkins & Tomma Abts, Lecia Dole-Racio, Morgan Fisher, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Koln James Hayward (2009, 2004, 2002)
  • Hot, Blue & Righteous, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin (2003)
  • deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (2003)
  • Black Rainbow, Lucky Tackle, Oakland, California (2003)
  • journal #7 with Vincent Fecteau, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2004)
  • Formalismus. Moderne Kunst heute, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg (2004)
  • 54th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2004–2005)
  • British Art Show 6, Hayward Gallery, London: (Wanderausstellung) (2005)
  • Of Mice and Men, 4th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2006)[25]
  • Hyper Design, 6th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai (2006)[26]
  • Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Tate Britain, London (2007)
  • Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2007)
  • Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2007)
  • The Gallery, David Zwirner, New York (2008)
  • The Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame, 4th Tirana Biennial, Tirana, Albania (2009)
  • Slow Paintings, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (2009)
  • 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 (2010)
  • Stand still like the hummingbird, David Zwirmer, New York (2012)
  • Painting Now: Five Contemporary Artists, Tate Britain, London (2013)

Collections

Abts' work is represented in public collections internationally, including:

Art market

Abts is represented by Galerie Buchholz,[31] Cologne/Berlin/New York, greengrassi, London[32] and by David Zwirner, New York.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Abts, Tomma, (born 26 Dec. 1967), artist; Professor of Painting, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, since 2010 | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-246465.
  2. "Turner Prize 2006: artists, Tomma Abts", Tate, Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. "David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  4. Phaidon Editors (2019). Great women artists. Phaidon Press. p. 20. ISBN 0714878774.
  5. Emma Brockes (6 December 2006), 'I'm sure they were thinking it was time a woman won' The Guardian.
  6. Tom Teodorczuk (5 December 2006), Turner Prize returns to artistic roots London Evening Standard.
  7. "Tomma Abts Press Release". New York: David Zwirner. 10 September – 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  8. Esplund, Lance. "Shadw Play", 10 April 2008, The New York Sun, Retrieved 18 August 2014
  9. Johnson, Ken (11 April 2008). "Little Canvases That Contain Worlds". New York Times.
  10. "German painter wins Turner Prize". BBC News. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  11. "Tomma Abts". Carnegie International. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  12. Ken Johnson (11 April 2008), Little Canvases That Contain Worlds New York Times.
  13. "Tomma Abts | Crown Point Press". www.crownpoint.com. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  14. Sarah Thornton. Seven Days in the Art World. New York. ISBN 9780393337129. OCLC 489232834.
  15. "Turner Prize 2006". Tate. 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  16. "Tomma Abts". Kunsthalle Basel. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  17. "New Museum". www.newmuseum.org.
  18. "Tomma Abts - Kunsthalle Düsseldorf". www.xn--kunsthalle-dsseldorf-0ec.de.
  19. "greengrassi: Tomma Abts". greengrassi.com.
  20. "Exhibitions – Galerie Buchholz". www.galeriebuchholz.de.
  21. "Tomma Abts - David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  22. "Tomma Abts - Aspen Art Museum". Aspen Art Museum.
  23. Kedmey, Karen. "At Crown Point Press, Tomma Abts Prints Like She Paints". Artsy. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  24. www.artcat.com. "Marc Foxx". www.marcfoxx.com.
  25. "Berlin Biennial".
  26. "Shanghai Biennale". Universes in Universe. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  27. "Tomma Abts - The Art Institute of Chicago". The Art Institute of Chicago.
  28. "Tomma Abts. Untitled (gap). 2015 - MoMA". www.moma.org.
  29. "Tomma Abts". SFMOMA.
  30. Tate. "Tomma Abts born 1967 - Tate".
  31. "Tomma Abts, Galerie Buchholz".
  32. "greengrassi: Tomma Abts", greengrassi, Retrieved 18 August 2014.
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