Gert & Uwe Tobias

Since completing their studies, brothers Gert & Uwe Tobias (born 1973 in Brasov, Romania, now living in Cologne) have been working together on drawings, ceramics and woodcuts, which they as-semble to form installations that are often held together by coloured walls and interventions in the space. The pieces are not just connected on the outside but at the level of their motifs, too. In each of their media the brothers depict the progeny of surreal conceptions and fantasies – usually figures that closely resemble humankind yet are still somehow very far from human. Folkloristic motifs spring from collective social structures, their memories and traditions. The brothers’ woodcuts are produced in a process that creates an image out of multiple printing blocks, like a puzzle. In stark contrast to the concept of mass production, each woodcut yields just two prints.

For the Kunstverein in Hamburg, the brothers have developed an installation that makes the entire location something of a window into the fantastical contents of their minds. From January to March 2012 their work will stretch from the foyer to the stairwell and into both exhibition areas, filling a space of some 1,300 qm. After that, parts of the installation will gradually retreat to make room for other exhibitions. By the end of the year their work will remain only in the foyer and the stairwell.