Gert & Uwe Tobias
The twin brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias, born in 1937 in Romania, have been working together since the end of their studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig, Germany. Their works refer to European folklore, Russian Constructivism, Art Brut and comics.
They achieved an early international breakthrough with large-format woodcuts. Their work centres on mysticism and myths surrounding Transylvania in a humorous way. The artist duo was even called "Dracula's printers" by a German news website called the Kultur-Spiegel. Thus, in their colour-intensive woodcuts and drawings, are repeatedly figures reminiscent of witches, monsters and other mythical creatures and creatures from the shadow world.
They combine primitivist, abstract-geometric stylistic elements and humorous or eerie atmospheres to create images that oscillate between abstraction and figuration, pattern work and the grotesque.
Before their exhibition at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover (2009), Gert and Uwe Tobias had already presented their works at the New York Museum of Modern Art (2007) and the Kunsthalle Wien (2009). Both brothers live in Cologne, Germany.
