Gert and Uwe Tobias

Ohne Titel / Untitled, 2013

Long Lake Estates

Ohne Titel / Untitled, 2013

Long Lake Estates

Long Lake Estates

Twin brother artists Gert and Uwe Tobias were born in 1973 in Brasov, Romania and currently live and work in Cologne, Germany.

Gert and Uwe Tobias have been collaborating since the early 2000s, creating quasi-cartoonish portraits influenced by varied sources such as Surrealism and European folk art. The result is a distinct style that is both unsettling and comical--a humorous critique on traditional portraiture and still life. In this painting, a menacing hand creeps out from the subject’s head, its mildly ghoulish intent balanced by the whimsical quality of the image and the bright color palette.

Their giant woodcuts and wall paintings draw on modernist geometric abstraction, but they combine line, shape, color and typography with the narrative images and patterns of folk art, using decorative motifs such as flowers, plants, patterns, embroidery and domestic objects.

In their latest series “Grisaille,” the artists focus their gaze on a little-known tradition in the history of panel painting. Painting entirely in shades of grey, the artists rediscover and reinterpret the charm of a monochrome palette not before seen in their work. 

Solo museum exhibitions include

• Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (2015)

• Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2014)

• GEM Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hague, The Netherlands (2011)

• Museum Franz Gertsch, Bergdorf, Switzerland (2009)