Tomma Abts' Second Solo Exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery Explores Spatial Illusions

Tomma Abts presented her second solo exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery from September 10 to October 25, 2014, located at 519 West 19th Street in New York City. The show featured eight oil and acrylic paintings alongside five pencil drawings on paper. All works were hung at an unusually low height to encourage close viewing. Abts employs a standard canvas size of 18-7/8 x 15 inches, as seen in Fenke (2014), which incorporates a physical cut into its edge to contrast with painted depth illusions. Wybe (2014) displays a diagonal division and evidence of extensive reworking, suggesting many studio hours. Her intuitive process involves creating geometric compositions without preliminary plans, resulting in shallow, convincing spaces with skewed perspectives. Shading and muted colors in her work recall Vincent Fecteau's sculpture. During installation, Abts carefully considers the precise placement, height, and lighting of each piece, extending compositional principles to the gallery environment. She titles paintings after selecting names from a dictionary, evoking portraiture through abstraction. The drawings feature linear elements with striped patterns in yellow, red, green, blue, and graphite, creating rhythmic, skeletal forms. Both paintings and drawings maintain a fragmentary yet complete quality, using traditional means to provoke new visual experiences.