Marc Straus is proud to present our second solo exhibition with New York based Swiss artist Liliane Tomasko.
Tomasko’s studious observations of ignored moments in daily domestic life are transformed into grander existential inquiries. As in Kees Boeke’s seminal text, “Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps” and Ray and Charles Eames “Powers of Ten,” Tomasko shows how the greater universe can be reflected and examined by observation of the most common of objects. For Tomasko, this may be the crumpled sheets she sees in her family’s home.
For this exhibit we include her drawn studies of these folds. These are a critical first step in transforming the seen world into abstractions. The black lines of the drawings are transferred to canvases to become the scaffolding for jolts of color to be built up.
The color palette of each work conveys the feelings left after dreams, both in visions summoned during slumber and waking aspirations for the future. Rather than setting up any clear narratives, the works utilize the inherent open-endedness of abstraction. We are drawn to the imagery to which we bring our own projections and imagination as extensions of the narrative. In the end her bold and lyrical abstract paintings of wide, muscular brushstrokes and translucent layers create unexpected depth.
Liliane Tomasko (b. 1967 Zurich, Switzerland) studied in London at Camberwell College, Chelsea College of Art & Design, and the Royal Academy of Arts. She lives and works in Germany, Barcelona and New York. Her work is found in public and private collections worldwide, including The Albertina, Vienna; IVAM, Valencia; Hilti Art Foundation, Schaan; Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. She has shown internationally in both solo and group exhibitions, including Museo MATE, Lima, Peru; Kunsthalle Krems; 21er Haus, Vienna; Lowe Art Museum, Miami; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, IVAM, Valencia and Casal Solleric, Spain, as well as in Vienna, France, China, and Germany. She is represented by Marc Straus in NYC, Kerlin Gallery in Dublin, Galerie Bechter Kastowsky in Vienna, and Blain|Southern, London, UK and Berlin, Germany.