Tomma Abts

Curator: Jasmin Meinold

Tomma Abts’s paintings and drawings reflect an ongoing investigation of form, color, and pictorial space. Working primarily in acrylic and oil, she develops her paintings in a slow, step-by-step process in which diverse forms and nuanced color palettes coalesce into dynamic pictorial compositions.

At the invitation of the Fridericianum, Tomma Abts is broadening her artistic practice for the first time to create a site-specific interior wall painting that responds to the distinctive architecture of the Rotunda on the second floor. Beneath a fan-shaped glass roof, a spacious atrium is enclosed by a gallery that curves along one side. Drawing on the space’s distinctive architectural features and light conditions, the artist develops a composition of four geometric forms: a circle, a square, an ellipse, and a rhombus.

The circle and square are positioned directly beneath the glass roof on the walls of the atrium, where they are illuminated by natural daylight. The ellipse and rhombus, by contrast, occupy the recessed walls of the surrounding gallery, which are lit primarily by artificial light. The two rounded forms are painted as solid fields, while the angular forms are designed as broad frames. Across the atrium’s void, these two pairs of forms engage with one another as well as with the architecture and the changing light situations. Their arrangement establishes shifting relationships between foreground and background, while also evoking the interplay between forms and their shadows.

Together with the architecture, the four elements form an interconnected spatial configuration that invites viewers to encounter the work from different vantage points and at different times of day. As one's position changes, so too do the perceived proportions, relationships, colors, and painterly effects. The transition from daylight to artificial light further alters the visual presence of the forms: as daylight fades, the circle and square recede into shadow, while the ellipse and rhombus become increasingly prominent.

The wall painting and its formal characteristics also build directly on key aspects of Tomma Abts's established working process. She developed the contour lines of the four forms and the precise tonalities of the color fields through a multistage process aimed not only at defining the color values and their ambiguities, but also at determining the manner of application and the qualities of the surface. The work was executed by technical staff at the Fridericianum in close collaboration with the artist.

By extending beyond the boundaries of the canvas and into the architectural space, Tomma Abts expands her practice into a new exploration of spatiality. At the same time, the work continues a central concern of her exhibition practice: her engagement with architecture and her deliberate structuring of wall surfaces through the precise placement and spacing of her paintings.

The site-specific painting at the Fridericianum thus itself becomes part of the architecture, which can only be fully experienced by moving within the space and changing points of view. The work brings together fundamental aspects of Tomma Abts's painting, drawing, and engagement with space, offering a direct experience of the multidimensional nature of her practice.

Tomma Abts was born in Kiel, Germany, in 1967 and has lived and worked in London since 1995. In 2006 she became the first German artist to be awarded the Turner Prize. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London, and the Art Institute of Chicago (2018), the Aspen Art Museum (2014), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2011), and the New Museum, New York (2008). She has also participated in major international exhibitions including the Berlin Biennale (2006), Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2004), and the Istanbul Biennial (2001). The project at Fridericianum marks the artist's first institutional presentation in Germany since 2011.