In his process-oriented practice, artist Toby Ziegler delves into the relationship between images, objects and space. His hybrid practice involves a wide range of sources reworked with both digital and manual tools, compressing very fast and very slow processes into a single work. In this exhibition, two bodies of work meet: five oils on aluminum and five papers on Dibond.
With his works on aluminium, Toby Ziegler converses with Georges de la Tour (1593-1652) and Jan Van Eyck (v. 1390-1441). Three images, Magdalena with Smoking Flame (c. 1642-1644), The Flea Catcher (c. 1638) and The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), are meticulously manipulated and painted, sometimes multiplied and transported into a space bordering on abstraction . As a result of this patient process, Toby Ziegler uses an electric sander to quickly remove the paint. The blocks that cover the surface of the painting are a reference to the modernist grid, the ultimate denial of figuration, and also to the grid of pixelation, which is the true origin of jpeg images found online.
Works on Dibond are based on images created by the artist over a decade ago using early 3D design software. Painted in a palette limited to black and white, some embellished with touches of pink, star motifs articulate a space that blends depth and flatness, hard edge qualities and the artist's gesture. Smoothing is then used to create areas with blurred and luminescent patterns, evoking a hilly landscape.
These two bodies of work, the recent series of figurative oils on aluminum and the abstract landscapes discovered over many years, reveal as they are displayed side by side the stark contrasts and equivalences at the heart of Toby Ziegler's oeuvre.
Toby Ziegler (1972, London)
Lives and works in London. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in renowned institutions such as the Freud Museum in London (2018); The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (2017); New Art Centre, Salisbury (2014); off-site exhibition at Q-park 3-9, Old Burlington Street, London (2012), Zabludowicz Collection, Sarisalvo and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helskinki (2012); Zabludowicz Collection, London, traveled to New Art Gallery, Walsall (2011); Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010); The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (2009); Tate Britain, London (2007); Le Plateau, Paris (2006); Le Consortium, Dijon (2005). Group exhibitions include musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen (2019); Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham (2017); The Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent (2016); Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou (2014); Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania (2013); Aston Hall, Birmingham (2012); Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (2008). Toby Ziegler's works are part of renowned collections such as Arts Council England, London; British Council, London; Tate Britain, London; Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas; Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; and Zabludowicz Collection, London.
Image: Toby Ziegler, Vaseline, 2019 © Peter Mallet, Courtesy of the artist and the Max Hetzler Gallery, Berlin | paris | London
