Listening to Tooma Abts in interviews, you’re struck by the calm of her presence. A German expat living in London, her English is excellent and her speech exceptionally articulate as she explains her approach to her art. Using words like “mood” and “feeling” and explaining the near spiritual dialog she undergoes with each piece, Abts is fascinating even before you view her serenely engrossing paintings.
Through a wonderful exhibition of Abts’ works in the Art Institute’s Modern Wing, Chicago has the opportunity to experience the creative output of a splendid contemporary artist; one whose vision and execution are both singular and remarkable for their quiet excellence. The eminence and character of Abts’ canvases garnered her the prestigious Turner Award in 2006; making her the first woman to receive what’s considered the highest arts award bestowed in Great Britain.
Most of the exhibit’s paintings are like individual bewitching pools. As you approach each one and peer into its core, they all invariably draw you deeper inside, treating the eye to new surprises the longer you survey their contained expanse. Her pieces, usually in acrylic and oil, are comparatively compact in scale; typically measuring in the range of 19.8 x 15 inches in size. Restrained dimensions add to the deceiving simplicity of the work itself. Feke, completed in 2013 is a perfect example of the studied serenity you find in so much of what Abts does. On a canvas of sumptuous soft lime yellow, lines, angles, shades and shadows seem to be in motion. Lines mimic one another but are strikingly different in subtle ways. Columns and planes and softly cascading angles have been configured to conjure the magic of illusion.
Working with no pre-conceived notion of where the piece will go, Abts paints by intuition; much in the way writers allow characters to help define themselves.
It’s easy to forget the physical rigors often needed to create matchless art. If Feke is an exercise in restrained mystery, Inte erupts in profuse precision; using red’s bold color to highlight the peaceful greens found in nature. The more you’ll willing to invest in looking at Abts paintings; the greater the reward.
Well known for employing no tool other than her brush, there are no rulers to help draw a perfect line or compasses to insure flawless circles. It’s all free hand which underscores the physical and mental demands high art can exact. In these works, extreme focus is crucial in order to realize a creative ideal. That focus helped to achieve the beautifully textured bronze ribbons in her 2017 Weie.
Occasionally one corner of the canvas will be rounded or sliced off leaving it at a 45-degree slant. That curve or slant becomes an element of the art and is impishly mimicked in the work as seen in Oeje. One painting even has its canvas separated into two parts with the design on one continuing perfectly to the second. You first appreciate the beauty of the composition and are in the end astonished at the meticulousness needed to extend it so flawlessly to its second self.
Even though Abts painting do not convey the same sensory message, they all have a common voice. One that’s contemplative, daring and inexhaustibly intent on exploring the alternative natures and beauty of art.
Tomma Abts
Through February 17, 2019
Art Institute of Chicago
Modern Wing
159 E. Monroe St. (Nichols Bridgeway)
Chicago, IL 60603
