Koks + Kröten | T.R.A.F.O. | The World Egg of Diderot
2017, oil, acrylic, silkscreen on canvas on wood, each 200 x 120 cm
Born 1970 in St. Veit an der Gölsen.
After exhibitions in Austria (including Albertina Vienna, Kunsthalle Vienna, Rupertinum - Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Landesmuseum NÖ, MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/ Contemporary Art) and abroad (Kunsthuis Yello Art, Geel, Belgium; Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, Heike Curtze Berlin, Galerie 14+1 Stuttgart, Germany), TOMAK's works of painting, drawing, sculpture, text and performance are present in numerous renowned museums and collections.
TOMAK does not make it easy for us with the visual structure of his thinking.
We are confronted with a bewildering abundance of figures of thought that feed on a metaphor-rich visual language that interweaves scientific theorems with technical plans, anatomical representations with pop-cultural phenomena, (art) historical quotations with everyday objects, and sometimes bundles all of this into brusquely stated assertions. A first step towards understanding these "display panels" would be to delve into the structure of the motifs and ask which images it is that he selects and analytically dismantles and remounts.
One cannot speak of an ultimate statement in the individual sheets, but should regard them as configurations, as snapshots of his visual thinking. Thinking always has something to do with flexibility, mobility and metamorphosis, and so the manifold is not tied together into a logical unity, but assembled into an open constellation. If science tries to form a system out of different elements, to assemble a corpus out of the scattered links, so to speak, TOMAK fragments this body and puts its parts in juxtaposition to objects that one would not generally think of together with it. TOMAK exposes in order to dispose, he shows in order to dissect, he assembles in order to reveal the gaps that gape between the pictorial elements. And these gaps are the free spaces of the mind, the joints of the imagination. Disposition means a confrontation of differences, a clash of heterogeneities. But it also always implies a specific dialectic.
Roman Grabner
Yellow Animals Series
2019, each 120 x 150 cm, acrylic on canvas
When I was a monkey
2019, pencil on paper, 70 x 50 cm
Ausstellungen
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Hermann Nitsch/TOMAK (exhibition), Gallery Peithner-Lichtenfels, Vienna
2019
PINSELÄFFCHEN TOMAK, Gallery Gölles, Fürstenfeld
LEBENDFALLE (exhibition), City Gallery, Waidhofen/Ybbs
2018
CHAOS/COSMOS, (presentation), Schleifmühlgasse, Vienna
20 YEARS AMBIENT MOPHO (exhibition), Glanzstoff factory, St. Pölten
KÖNIG VON ÖSTAREICH (exhibition), Kugelmühle, Feldbach
TOMAK - DRAWING (exhibition), GALERIE galerie, Vienna
2017
THE RETURN OF FUTOMAKI (exhibition) HO GALLERY, Vienna
POSTERBOY OF ANTIKUNST (exhibition) GALERIE galerie, Graz
T.R.A.F.O. - Preface (exhibition), Contemp, Vienna
2016
DAS SCHÜTZENFEST, action space Linkz, Linz
EXPOSURE, Gallery Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna
DER ANTIST - We heal art (performance), Ateliertheater, Vienna
2015
MALPRACTICE (exhibition), LISABIRD Contemporary, Vienna
DER ANTIST (exhibition), Box-Union Favoriten, Vienna
TOMAK AND THE WALDORF ASTORIAS (exhibition), Rudolf Steiner School Mauer, Vienna
MALPRACTICE (exhibition), Gerberhaus, Fehring
T.R.A.F.O.. - THE RISE AND FALL OF TOMAQUE DEVILLE (Autumn 2015, exhibition), Ho Gallery, Vienna
I.H.S. (exhibition), Volksbanken AG, Vienna
2014
JETZT WIRD'S BUNT (exhibition), LISABIRD Contemporary, Vienna
BATMAN vs. TOMAK (exhibition), Rudolf Budja Gallery, Salzburg
FUTOMAKI (exhibition), Yoshi's Contemporary Art Gallery, Vienna
DIE SCHÜRZE (edition), Die Presse - Shop, Vienna
2013
SALON DEVILLE (exhibition), Contemp, Vienna
POSTERBOY OF ANTIKUNST (exhibition), Cserni, Vienna
2012
NUBRO, TOMAK/Koller (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Vienna
PHANTÔMAK (exhibition), Kuppelsaal University of Technology, Vienna
2011
AUTOMAK (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Salzburg
NUBRO (presentation), TOMAK/Koller, Künstlerhaus, Salzburg
2010
10 JAHRE FREISPRUCH - Severe Damage to Property (exhibition), propaganda, Vienna
THE EAR PROBLEM, No Problem (exhibition), Cast Your Art, Vienna
AINTED ICTURES (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Salzburg
TOMAK over Salzburg (exhibition), Museum der Moderne, Rupertinum, Salzburg
TOMAK over Salzburg (performance), Kunsthalle Wien, projekt space, Vienna
2009
WHITE RUSSION (performance), Kunsthalle Vienna, projekt space, Vienna
TOMAK over Germany (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Berlin
SCHWEITELWIST (performance), Kunsthalle Vienna, project space, Vienna
2008
ICH ZIEHE IN DEN KRIEG (reading), Salesianergasse, Vienna
TITTENFISH METROPOLIC (performance), Kunsthalle Wien, project space, Vienna
10 years TOMAK (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Vienna
TOMAK over Salzburg (exhibition), Gallery Heike Curtze, Salzburg
PROTEST (performance), Kunsthalle Vienna, project space, Vienna
X-MAS BANG BANG (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Juwelier Neuner, Vienna
CONVOY, TRUCK'S & ROCK'N'ROLL (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Dreiraumtheater, Vienna
QUARTETT (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Gallery Heike Curtze, Salzburg
AJAX for example for example (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Galerie Heike Curtze, Berlin
DREI GROSCHEN FÜR EIN HALLELUJA (performance), TOMAK + ZUREK, MAK - Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Vienna
BLITZKRIEG (exhibition), Zimmermanngasse, Vienna
2006
I HAVE SAID PIMMEl (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna
UFO (performance), Kunsthalle Wien, project space, Vienna
2005
50 (exhibition), Sternhofweg, Salzburg
GESUALDO (performance), Kunsthalle Wien, project space, Vienna
WEIL HEILL (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Artware-lounge, Vienna
THE EYES OF THE MEAT (performance), Cabaret Renz, Vienna
2004
TOMAK in the mouth (exhibition), Hotel Hauser, St. Pölten
TOMAK vs.(exhibition), Thürntal Castle, Lower Austria
GESUALDO, mostra e performance, Club Vivendi, Vienna
BETWEEN BLACK BREASTS (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
HAMLETMACHINE (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, MAK- Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (Gefechtsturm), Vienna
HAMLETMACHINE (exhibition), TOMAK + ZUREK, Gallery 14-1, Stuttgart
2003
HITLERNAME: GIRLS (reading), Paris Bar, Berlin
HITLERNAME: GIRLS (reading), Cafe Engländer, Vienna
CHANGED VIEWS (exhibition), Hetzendorf Castle, Vienna
KUNSTVERBRENNER (performance), St. Veit/Gölsen, Lower Austria
2002
ADVERTISING IS NOT AN ART (exhibition), Agency Wagner Steinperl, St. Pölten
TOMAK Suburban (exhibition), Gallery Art 21, Vienna
2001
FREIZEITREVUE II (installation), 2nd Lower Austrian Culture Day, St. Pölten
FREIZEITREVUE I (installation), City Museum, St. Pölten
TOMAK macht blau (event), Nussdorf, Lower Austria
PROCESS V.2 (exhibition), Hözl & Michalek, Vienna
U-HAFT (exhibition), Egon Schiele Museum Neulengbach, Lower Austria
TOMAK paints out (exhibition), Palais Palffy, Vienna
2000
TOMAK builds Attersee (performance), St. Veit/Gölsen, Lower Austria
MACKIE MESSER HAS A KNIFE... (exhibition), Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna
PROCESS V+III (exhibition), City Museum, St. Pölten
1999
NEO ANTHROPOPHAGI (exhibition), Gallery Winter, Vienna
1998
HOLLANDIAN RETRITUAL (exhibition), Austrian Chamber of Trade, Vienna
AMBIENT MOPHO (exhibition), Traisenpavillion, St. Pölten
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
humanoid (exhibition), Lehner Gallery, Vienna
The Show must go on (exhibition), GPLcontemporary
2017
THE DISPOSITION OF THE NARREN CAP - Being and Expressing: Reflecting on Degeneration in Contemporary Art. Lyricism and Brutality for an Uncelebrated Anniversary, MACT/CACT - Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona
2016
Art Austria (artfair), Leopold Museum, Vienna
Dallas Art Fair (artfair), Dallas
2015
Art Wynwood (artfair), Miami
BARRIER FREEDOM, Anker Brot Fabrik, Vienna
The Marked Self. Between Annihilation and Masquerade, Bruseum - Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz
2014
Art Miami (artfair), Miami
FLUXUS - an exhibition as performance, Vienna Contemporary/Mitten in Favoriten, Vienna
FILM AND VIDEO DAYS "Performativity of Resistance" (video installation), Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna
2013
MIDDLE GATE GEEL 13 (curator Jan Hoet), de Halle, St-Dimpnakerk, Gasthuismuseum, Kunsthuis Yello Art, Geel, Belgium
Art Austria (artfair) TOMAK/Günter Brus, Leopold Museum, Vienna
WOMEN - Love and Life. The Klöcker Collection, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
2012
Art Miami (artfair), Miami
FLUXUS - AN EXHIBITION AS PERFORMANCE (exhibition), Vienna Contemporary/Mitten in Favoriten, Vienna
FILM AND VIDEO DAYS "PERFORMATIVITY OF THE OPPOSITE" (video installation) LISABIRD Contemporary, Vienna
CONTEMORARY III (exhibition), Albertina, Vienna
2010
I AM ANOTHER (exhibition), Landesmuseum of Lower Austria, St.Pölten
2009
Art Albertina, Albertina, Vienna
LIVES AND WORKS IN VIENNA III - Stars in a Plastic Bag (exhibition), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
EVOLUTION REMIXED sound:frame festival, Künstlerhaus, Vienna
2002
Artfair Krems, Dominican Church, Krems
2000
NATURA MORTE (exhibition), Lower Austrian Documentation Centre for Modern Art, St. Pölten
1999
WIENER TRAUMPFAD (installation), Heldenplatz, Vienna
1998
YOUNG GODS (exhibition), Radio Kulturhaus, Vienna
1997
VIENNA MASKS (exhibition), Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria
1996
APHORODITE (exhibition), Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna
REIGEN, EIN FRIES (installation), Palais Fanto, Vienna