Gert & Uwe Tobias

Name

2021
Mellemrummet (online), Glentevej 49, Copenhagen

We are pleased to present MELLEMRUMMET (version 2.0), a virtual project space through which our artists from around the world will share current works and projects. MELLEMRUMMET is a danish word meaning “the space or the time in between’. As the title suggests it is a platform halfway between the artist's studio and the physical gallery exhibition by which we aim to bring the audience closer to the artist's domain and work processes.

MELLEMRUMMET (version 1.0) first started in 2009 as a physical exhibition space at the gallery's former location on Ny Carlsberg Vej in Copenhagen. In 2021, we seek to reenact the platform in accordance with our current realities and launch MELLEMRUMMET (version 2.0) as a virtual version of the original exhibition space. Four virtual exhibitions shall be presented annually and in connection with each exhibition, one to two pop-up exhibitions will be arranged at selected locations both in Denmark and abroad. Visitors can explore and acquire works from these exhibitions directly from the gallery's website and via the various pop-up exhibitions.

NILS STÆRK - MELLEMRUMMET's first exhibition in 2021 is a project by Gert & Uwe Tobias, which presents ten wall-hung sculptures in glazed ceramics - a type of work that is an essential path in their artistic practice. The sculptures are presented in a sequence, interacting with selected colored woodcuts on canvas. Inspired by surrealism and abstract modernism, art history is an essential key to opening and grasping Gert & Uwe Tobias’ distinctive imagery. This matrix of isms breaks down the conventional distinction between art and craft and provides a renewed opportunity for the imagery of the works to re-emerge on their own terms: as an allegory of the fluctuating character that characterizes the contemporary art experience.
Installation views
Works
Artist Biography
Gert & Uwe Tobias

Born in Kronstadt, RO, 1973
Live and work in Cologne, DE

Gert & Uwe Tobias are known for their unique imagery, inspired by both the traditional folk myths of their country of origin and popular culture. Their artistic practice comprises ceramic sculptures, painting, paperwork and large color woodcuts on canvases, the latter which combine the classic painting genre with a well-known printing technique used for the traditional propaganda making as well as in pop art’s repetition of motifs. Instead of carving out the figure into the block of wood, they shape the individual motifs in plywood and use a roller to apply the paint to the surface of each form, which finally transfers the color to the canvas. In this way, Gert and Uwe Tobias develop a well-known tradition and method.

Their artistic universe has a direct connection to different art historical and cultural epochs, and in this way also reflects the anti-nostalgic use of images of current popular culture. Inspired by surrealism and abstract modernism, art history is an essential key to opening and grasping Gert & Uwe Tobias’ distinctive imagery. This matrix of isms breaks down the conventional distinction between art and craft and provides a renewed opportunity for the imagery of the works to re-emerge on its own terms – as an allegory of the fluctuating character that characterizes the contemporary art experience.

DOWNLOAD ARTIST'S CV