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Tobias Abel, born in 1967 in Göttingen, is a German painter. His artistic concept is characterized by monochromatic colors combined with simple geometric structures, and a clear, precise composition reduced to the bare essentials. The works unearth fundamental properties of color and shape. It is about structural relations and the interplay with the space that surrounds the artworks.
When looking at the works of Tobias Abel, the minimalistic concentrations are noticeable in a few forms and colors. Rectangles, ellipses, circles, octagons and triangles are his elemental vocabulary of forms, which corresponds to a reduced color palette that consists of white, gray and black. When other colors appear, they can usually be traced back to metals – aluminum, copper, steel, brass or even gold.
Purist in material and constructive in form determination, his works show the interaction between color and space on a fundamental level. Geometric structures and clarity of composition are constitutive elements of his art.
Tobias Abel lives and works in Cologne, Germany and is represented by Galerie Johann Widauer in Innsbruck, Austria.
Biography
1967
Born in Göttingen, Germany
1990–91
Liberal Art School Stuttgart, baseline studies, Stuttgart, Germany
1992–98
State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, painting/graphic arts with Luc Tuymans and Helmut Dorner, Karlsruhe, Germany
1994–95
Academy of Fine Arts and Design Bratislava, work scholarship, Bratislava, Slowakia
1996
Academy award, State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe
1997
Master student of Helmut Dorner
1998
Diploma painting/graphic arts, State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe
Lives and works in Cologne, Germany
Exhibitions
2003
Tobias Abel, Paintings, Ausstellungsraum Binterimstraße, Düsseldorf (S)
Tobias Abel, Paintings, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tübingen (S)
2004
Tobias Abel, 7 Green Paintings from 2004, Poly Galerie, Karlsruhe (S)
Books on Art, Art and Museum Library of the City of Cologne, Cologne (C)
Privatsammlung Düsseldorf, Tobias Abel, Sabine Boehl, Julia Engert, Sascha Hahn, Volker Möllenhoff, Peter Pumpler, Anselm Reyle, Robert Ritter, Katja Strunz, Jens Wolf, Konsortium, Düsseldorf (G)
2005
Tobias Abel, Works on Paper, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tübingen (S)
2006
Tobias Abel, Paintings, Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen (S)
2007
Tobias Abel, Paintings, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck (S)
2008
Tobias Abel, Paintings, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tübingen (S)
2010
Tobias Abel, Paintings and Drawings, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck (S)
Chromie, Tobias Abel, Elisabeth Arpagaus, Alfonso Fratteggiani Bianchi, Jonathan Callan, Rudolf De Crignis, Alan Ebnother, Reto Emch, Christian Frosch, Aurélie Nemours, Freya Richter, Gert Riel, Peter Tollens, Peter Willen, Peter Wüthrich, Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel (G)
2012
Minimal Reloaded, Tobias Abel, Carl Andre, Alan Charlton, Henrik Eiben, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Fred Sandback, David Semper, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg (G)
2013
Austragungsort II, Tobias Abel, Marc Angeli, Engelbert Becker, Nina Brauhauser, Sotirakis Charalambou, Susanne Cirkel, Christoph Dahlhausen, Günter Dohr, Sabine Fernkorn, Christoph Gesing, Bruno Gronen, Wolfgang Hahn, Jo Heijnen, Rosa M. Hessling, Dorothee Joachim, Sybille Kaschluhn, Andreas Keil, Thomas Kemper, Diethelm Koch, Hartwig Kompa, K. P. Kremer, Kumiko Kurachi, Sabine Odensaß, Rita Rohlfing, Sören Schmitt, Harald Schmitz-Schmelzer, Elisabeth Sonneck, Susanne Stähli, Hannah Stippl, Peter Stohrer, Michael Toenges, Peter Tollens, Martina Urmersbach, Gertrud Maria Viegener, Winfried Virnich, Tinka von Hasselbach, Magnus von Stetten, Helga Weihs, Ulrich Wellmann, Josef Wolf, Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen (G)
Accrochage, Tobias Abel, Helke and Thomas Bayrle, Norbert Brunner, Alfons Egger, Heinz Gappmayr, Martin Gostner, Manuel Gorkiewicz, Georg Herold, Richard Hoeck, Anna Jermolaewa, Sven-Åke Johansson, Hubert Kiecol, Martin Kippenberger, Peter Kogler, John Miller, Otto Mühl, Matt Mullican, Nikolaus Schletterer, Hubert Schmalix, Beatrix Sunkovsky, Karl Unterfrauner, Lawrence Weiner, Alexander Wolff, Heimo Zobernig, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck (G)
2014
Dystotal, Tobias Abel, Justin Andrews, Lars Breuer, Ralf Brög, Julia Bünnagel, Frauke Dannert, Sebastian Freytag, Terry Haggerty, Julio Herrera, Ukri Merikanto, Guido Münch, Jörg Nittenwilm, Sebastian Riemer, Christian Robert-Tissot, Pietro Sanguineti, Jan Scharrelmann, Phillip Schulze, Michal Škoda, John Tremblay, Mirko Tschauner, Pori Art Museum, Pori (G)
Tobias Abel, Paintings and Wall Drawings, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck (S)
2015
Tobias Abel, Drawings, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Brandenburg (S)
2016
Dystotal, Linda Arts, Ford Beckman, Heiner Blum, Nicolas Chardon, Tim Cierpiszewski, Neil Clements, Markus Ebner, Angela Fette, Gabriel Kuri, Gerold Miller, Renato Nicolodi, Martin Pfeifle, Jan van der Ploeg, Anja Schwörer, Esther Stocker, Sebastian Wickeroth, Lars Wolter / Tobias Abel, Justin Andrews, Lars Breuer, Ralf Brög, Julia Bünnagel, Frauke Dannert, Sebastian Freytag, Terry Haggerty, Julio Herrera, Ukri Merikanto, Guido Münch, Jörg Nittenwilm, Sebastian Riemer, Christian Robert-Tissot, Pietro Sanguineti, Jan Scharrelmann, Phillip Schulze, Michal Škoda, John Tremblay, Mirko Tschauner, room of references, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (G)
2018
Köln plus – Positions in Color Painting, Tobias Abel, Agathe B., Stephan Baumkötter, Engelbert Becker, Christoph Dahlhausen, Claudia Desgranges, Thomas Deyle, Nikola Dimitrov, Sabine Fernkorn, Christiane Fuchs, Christoph Gesing, Bruno Gronen, Johanna Hess, Rosa M. Hessling, Ines Hock, Hannah A. Hovermann, Dorothee Joachim, Raymund Kaiser, Andreas Keil, Thomas Kemper, K. P. Kremer, Karin Kutsch, Heike Lessel, Ingo Meller, Ulrich Moskopp, Sabine Odensaß, Mutsumi Okada, Sybille Pattscheck, Ivo Ringe, Rita Rohlfing, Georg Schmidt, Michael Toenges, Peter Tollens, Günter Tuzina, Gertrud Maria Viegener, Winfried Virnich, Tinka von Hasselbach, Magnus von Stetten, Ulrich Wellmann, Annette Wesseling, Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen (G)
(S) = Solo exhibition
(G) = Group exhibition
(C) = Curator
Bibliography
Tobias Abel, Color Samples, ed. Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe 1998 (C)
Guido Münch: Tobias Abel, Paintings, Ausstellungsraum Binterimstraße 32, April 16, 2003 (T)
Michael Hübl: Is Green Always the Same?, Badische Neueste Nachrichten, April 28, 2004, issue no. 98, p. 14 (A)
Shape, ed. Tobias Abel, Cologne 2004 (P)
Ursula Werz: Tobias Abel, Works on Paper, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, April 2, 2005 (T)
Thomas Warnecke: Tobias Abel, Paintings, Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., August 6, 2006 (T)
Tobias Abel: If You Do Not Do Cosmetics, the Look Behind the Scenes is Different, March 1, 2007 (T)
Moni Brüggeler: Radicality of the Shape of a Color, Kronenzeitung, April 29, 2007, p. 59 (A)
Tobias Abel: 6 out of 7 Green Paintings, December 21, 2007 (T)
Ulrich Altenholtz: Tobias Abel, Paintings, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, January 18, 2008 (T)
Tobias Abel: On Painting on Copper, Metals and Metallic Pigments, September 12, 2008 (T)
Gaby Gappmayr: Monochrome and Construction, Galerie Johann Widauer, August 13, 2010 (T)
Ivona Jelcic: The Round Meets the Square, Tiroler Tageszeitung, August 14, 2010, p. 12 (A)
Moni Brüggeler: Nuances of Minimalism, Kronenzeitung, August 19, 2010, p. 37 (A)
Gaby Gappmayr: Monochrome and Construction, Galerie Johann Widauer, January 3, 2011 (T)
Tobias Abel, ed. Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck 2011 (C)
Konsortium 2004–2010, ed. Konsortium, Extra Verlag, Berlin 2011, p. 41, 299, 353 (C)
Julia Galandi-Pascual: Minimal Reloaded, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, October 21, 2012 (T)
Minimal Reloaded, ed. Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, October 21, 2012 (P)
Volker Bauermeister: How We See, Badische Zeitung, October 23, 2012, p. 9 (A)
Austragungsort II, ed. Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen 2013, p. 8 (C)
Austragungsort II, ed. Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen, Verlag Karl Maria Laufen, Oberhausen 2013, p. 78, 79 (C)
Dystotal, ed. Pori Art Museum, February 2, 2014 (P)
Tiina Lamminen: Monochrome and Materiality in Painting, April 1, 2014, p. 9, 10 (T)
Gaby Gappmayr: Line and Color, Galerie Johann Widauer, May 30, 2014 (T)
Ulrich Altenholtz: Tobias Abel, Drawings, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, June 15, 2015 (T)
Sammeln um zu sehen, ed. Ege Kunst- und Kulturstiftung, Verlag Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg 2015, p. 150, 221, 232, 242 (C)
Dystotal, ed. Andreas Beitin, Esther Boehle, Esko Nummelin, Verlag Koenig Books, London 2016, p. 45, 55, 65, 79, 175, 256, 257 (C)
Köln plus – Positions in Color Painting, ed. Verein für aktuelle Kunst/Ruhrgebiet e.V., Oberhausen 2018, p. 36, 39 (C)
Tobias Abel: Answers to Ten Questions About Painting, August 19, 2019 (T)
Tobias Abel: Handpainted Color Samples, November 5, 2020 (T)
Tobias Abel: Who’s Afraid of Copper, Gold and Silver?, July 4, 2021 (T)
Tobias Abel: 1398 Words on Painting, January 20, 2022 (T)
A Space for Book Art, ed. Elke Purpus, Cologne 2023, p. 38, 39 (C)
(A) = Article
(C) = Catalog
(P) = Poster
(T) = Text