Gert + Uwe Tobias | Not A Drop Left | Contemporary Fine Arts (CFA Berlin) | 05.03.-23.04.2022

until 23.04. | #3353ARTatBerlin | Contemporary Fine Arts shows from 5th March 2022 the exhibition Not A Drop Left with woodcuts and collages by the artists Gert und Uwe Tobias. 

Only those who call them by name can tame the spirits. In the fantastic world of Gert & Uwe Tobias’ collages and woodcuts on canvas, mythical creatures, insects, and birds float amidst colorful grids. As if emerging from elliptical portals constructed on the plane of the image, the figures of the twins’ creation gaze back maliciously onto the viewer or interact among themselves—devising plans beyond our knowledge.

Gert & Uwe Tobias, the rot, 2021, coloured woodcut on canvas, 200 x 168 cm

These bizarre ghosts may arise from the mythology of Transylvania, rich with haunting apparitions and flying creatures, but their references are far greater than that—this fairytale world is fueled by folk culture and art history alike. The spooky figures, suspended in air among stylized twirls and ribbons, borrow from Christian iconography as well, equipped with bishops’ hats, wings or even halos, resembling souls without bodies to inhabit. They might be troubled spirits which were denied afterlife, doomed to haunt these works. Their elongated anatomy and sharp edges, the absence of shadows and perspective, and elements that ornate their faces all amplify their flatness and ghostly character.

This is the brothers’ seventh solo show at Contemporary Fine Arts.

Gert and Uwe Tobias (born 1973 in Brasov, Romania) live and work in Cologne.