TOBY ZIEGLER
Toby Ziegler (b. 1972) brings together motifs derived from a wide range of sources, including photographs of the Freud family, Spanish still-life paintings, Dutch Old Masters and Nineteenth Century landscape paintings. He uses the computer to generate new forms and pictorial spaces, playing with facetted structures for his sculptures and manipulating layers of pattern for his two dimensional works. The physical realisation of these digital forms allows mistakes and idiosyncrasies to creep into the rigorous schematic process and to erase the clear distinction between figuration and abstraction. Ziegler revels in the slippages between the virtual and the actual, and furthermore in the very physical acts of decomposing, distorting, and damaging the materials. While Ziegler provides the viewer with some access to follow his path he intentionally leaves room for personal interpretation.
‘As a process, the enlargement of pixelated, discoloured images seems almost automatic in Ziegler – as if no new voice could be imparted to an image before it had passed through a singular neutralising filter. [...] The metal ensures a very specific form of paint adhesion and drying; it retains the trace of every brushstroke, whose nuances stand out at each transition. [...] Yet these operations would mean nothing without a further process, one that comes into effect after the first layer of paint has been painstakingly laid down. Of course, it is thought through from the start with the aid of a computer used to elaborate the composition. This second stage can be perceived as a kind of sabotage – though without it the painting would not be complete. Ziegler now sprays the painting, authoritatively superimposing a pattern over the motif.’
J.M. Gallais, in Toby Ziegler: Borderline Something, Galerie Max Hetzler and Holzwarth Publications, 2013
Image: eight women, 2019, oil on aluminium, 246 x 199.8 x 3 cm.; 96 7/8 x 78 5/8 x 1 1/8 in. Photo: Peter Mallett
Artist Talk
Selected Works
Solo Exhibitions
TOBY ZIEGLER
Group Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
Biography
VITA
1972
Born in London, UK
1991–1994
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London (B.A. Hons Fine Art)
2004–2006
Residency at Delfina Studios, London
Lives and works in London, UK
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arad Collection, London
Arts Council of England, Manchester
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
The British Council, London
British Airways Collection, London
Contemporary Arts Society, London
François Pinault Collection, Paris
Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas
Hudson Valley Centre for Contemporary Art, Peekskill
James Moores Collection, Liverpool
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris
Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania
The Saatchi Gallery, London
Stavanger Kunstmuseum
Tate Gallery, London
The West Collection, S.E.I, Philadelphia
Walsall New Art Gallery
The Zabludowicz Collection, London
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2023
Broken Images
PKM Gallery, Seoul
Blind men exploring the skin of an elephant
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
2022
Long live ghosts
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Stiftung zur Förderung zeitgenössischerkunst in Weidingen
Pronk
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2020
The sudden longing to collapse 30 years of distance
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2019
There's a ghost in my house
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
Flesh in the age of reason
PKM Gallery, Seoul
2018
Your Shadow Rising
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart
Your Mother
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
Everything is Recorded
Savoy Cinema, London
2017
Slave
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
New Art Centre, Salisbury
The Genesis Speech
Freud Museum, London
Sculpture
Stiftung zur Förderung zeitgenössischerkunst in Weidingen
The Cheat
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2016
Post-Human Paradise
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2015
PKM Gallery, Seoul
2014
Unused Potential
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris (catalogue)
Toby Ziegler: Expanded Narcissistic Envelope
The Hepworth Wakefield
New Art Centre, Salisbury
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2013
Borderline Something
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)
2012
The Cripples
off-site exhibition at a Q-park 3-9, Old Burlington Street, London
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2010
The Alienation of Objects
Zabludowicz Collection, London, travelled to:
The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, West Midlands;
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (catalogue)
2009
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2008
The Liberals
Simon Lee Gallery, London
Danish Pastry / Rose of Mohammed
Parkhaus im Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
Patrick Painter Inc, Los Angeles (catalogue)
2007
Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
2006
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2005
Enter Desire
Chisenhale Gallery, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Nothing Is: Sun Ra and Others’ Covers
JUBG, Cologne
2023
das gelbe Licht 6 Uhr nachmittags
Remembering, envisioning, sensing landscape, curated by Christian Malycha
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2022
Grayscale
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2020
Winter Light
Southbank Centre, London
Sculpture Park Schloss Schwante
2019
So British! 10 Masterpieces from the Pinault Collection
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
Input / Output: Painting After Technology
Galerie Max Hetzler, London
Soft Power: Rosso - Morandi - Ziegler
Tommaso Calabro, Milan
2017
I Want! I Want!: Art & Technology
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
After Image
Cassina Projects and Artuner, New York
A Certain Kind Of Light - Light In Art Over Six Decades
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne;
The Exchange, Penzance
2016
New Past: Contemporary Art from Britain
The Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent
Factually Real Illusions
Cookhouse Gallery, Chelsea College of Arts, London
My Abstract World
me Collectors Room Berlin
Fractured
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2015
Faux Amis
Simon Lee Gallery, London
Homeland
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2014
Conflict and Collisions: New Contemporary Sculpture
The Hepworth Wakefield
Painting about Painting
Simmons & Simmons, London (catalogue)
New Art Centre - Roche Sculpture Park and Gallery, Salisbury
Halftone: Through the Grid
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Paris
Landscape: The Virtual, The Actual, The Possible
Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou
Love Story - The Collection Anne & Wolfgang Titze
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Walk The Line
Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
Private Utopia: Contemporary Works from the British Council Collection
Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (catalogue), touring exhibition:
Itami City Museum of Art, Itami;
Kochi Museum of Art, Kochi;
Okayama Museum of Art, Okayama, 2015
2013
REMEMBER EVERYTHING
40 Years Galerie Max Hetzler
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)
The Red Queen
Museum of Old and New Art, Berriedale
2012
Curious Visitors:
The Arts Council Collection
Aston Hall, Birmingham
Art Foundation Mallorca Collection. Special Edition
CCA, Andratx
Gold
Belvedere, Vienna (catalogue)
Sidetracks. Painting in the paramodern continuum
Stavanger Art Museum (catalogue)
2011
Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (catalogue)
Self-Similar seen somewhere else at the same time
Galerie De Expeditie, Amsterdam
2010
A GROUP PAINTING SHOW
Patrick Painter Inc., Santa Monica
Another Face: works from the Arts Council Collection
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newspeak: British Art Now
The Saatchi Gallery, London
2009
Newspeak. British Art Now
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (catalogue)
The White Show (curated by Caroline Douglas)
PM Gallery and House, London
Work on Paper
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Accrochage
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Cui Prodest?
New Galerie de France, Paris (catalogue)
Reframing
CCA, Andratx
Natural Wonders: New Art from London
Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow
Supernova
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales
2008
RU(technhe) TH(episteme)8?
Hats Plus, London
Parkhaus
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Hamster Wheel (curated by Franz West)
Malmö Konsthall
Thuring and Ziegler
10 Vyner Street, London
Nature is a Workshop: selected from the Arts Council Collection
Turner Contemporary Project Space, Margate
35% Vrai 60% Faux
Simon Lee Gallery, London
2007
Hamster Wheel, curated by Franz West
Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, travelled to:
Le Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse;
Tesa della Nuovissima, Venice
Size Matters: XXL - Recent Large-Scale Paintings
Hudson Valley Centre for Contemporary Art, Peekskill
Soufflé, curated by Franz West
Kunstraum Innsbruck (catalogue)
How to Improve the World
Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Recent Abstraction, British Art Display 1500–2007
Tate Britain, London
2006
Out of Place
The New Art Gallery, Wallsall
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, curated by Barry Schwabsky
Asbæk, Copenhagen
Archipenture: painters build architecture
Camden Arts Centre, London
Archipenture: artists build architecture
Le Plateau - FRAC d’Ile de France, Paris
Supernova
City Art Gallery, Prague
2005
The Future Lasts a Long Time
Le Consortium, Dijon
Ordering the Ordinary, curated by David Thorp
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
Supernova
Bunkier Sztuki Gallery Of Contemporary Art Poland, Krakow, travelled to:
Kunstihoone, Tallinn; Centre Of Contemporary Art, Vilnius (catalogue)
2004
Kingdom
The Market, Glasgow
Contrapop
Vamiali's, Athens (catalogue)
Expander
Royal Academy of Arts, London (catalogue)
John Moores 23
The Walker, Liverpool
The Future Lasts a Long Time
Tal Esther Gallery, Tel Aviv
Collection 1
Isabella Brancolini Arte Contemporanea, Florence
2003
Art Kliasma 2003
Moscow
EAST international
Norwich Gallery, (catalogue)
Civilia
Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
Creek
Cell project space, London
Picture Room
Gasworks, London
2002
King of Norway’s house, Piccadilly, London
Hypnotising Chickens
One in the Other, London
2001
Sages, Scientists and Madmen
One in the Other, London
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Monographs
Simon Lee Gallery (Ed.): Toby Ziegler: anticlimax, Hong Kong, 2014
Galerie Max Hetzler (Ed.): Toby Ziegler. Borderline Something, Berlin, 2013
Koenig Books / Simon Lee Gallery (Eds.): From the Assumption of the Virgin to Widow / Orphan Control, London, 2012
Toby Ziegler with Elizabeth Johnson, Zabludowicz Collection (Eds.): The Alienation of Objects, London, 2010
Patrick Painter (Ed.): The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, Los Angeles, 2008
Others
Galerie Max Hetzler (Ed.): Halftone: Through the Grid, Berlin, 2014
Galerie Max Hetzler (Ed.): REMEMBER EVERYTHING : 40 Years Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, 2014
Simmons & Simmons (Ed.): Painting about Painting, London, 2014
Tokyo Station Gallery (Ed.): Private Utopia: Contemporary Works from the British Council Collection, Tokyo, 2014
Hossein Amirsadeghi, Maryam Eisler (Eds.): Sanctuary. Britain's Artists and their Studios, London, 2012
Museum und Schloss Belvedere Österreich (Ed.): Gold. Gold in der Kunst von der Antike bis zur Moderne, Munich, 2012
Peter Meyer (Ed.): Sidetracks, Stavanger, 2012
Modern Painters Magazine (Ed.): Underground Man. Toby Ziegler takes over a car park, October, 2012
Art Gallery of South Australia (Ed.): Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide : British art now, Adelaide, 2011
New Galerie de France (Ed.): Cui Prodest?, Paris, 2009
Black Pages, Vienna (Ed.): Toby, #1, Vienna, 2009
The State Hermitage Museum (Ed.): Newspeak. British Art Now, St Petersburg - London, 2009
Hans Werner Holzwarth (Ed.): Art Now, Vol 3, Taschen, Cologne, 2008
Quadrille Publishing (Ed.): Tiddy Rowan, Art in the City, London, 2008
Kunstraum Innsbruck (Ed.): Soufflé, Innsbruck, 2007
British Council (Ed.): The Supernova, London, 2005
Vamiali's Gallery (Ed.): Contrapop, Athens, 2004
Mustafa Hulusi (Ed.): Expander, London, 2004
Norwich Gallery (Ed.): EAST International, Norwich, 2003
Videos
Publications
HALFTONE
Darren Almond, Tauba Auerbach, Mark Barrow & Sarah Parke, Jeff Elrod, John Houck, Navid Nuur, Albert Oehlen, Michael Raedecker, Tursic & Mille, Kelley Walker, Christopher Wool, Toby Ziegler
Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin | Paris 2014
With a text by Pierre-Nicolas Bounakoff
€ 15.00
REMEMBER EVERYTHING
Darren Almond, Glenn Brown, André Butzer, Rineke Dijkstra, Günther Förg, Mona Hatoum, Jeff Koons, Vera Lutter, Marepe, Beatriz Milhazes, Ernesto Neto, Frank Nitsche, Albert Oehlen, Yves Oppenheim, Richard Phillips, Michael Raedecker, Bridget Riley, Thomas Struth, Rebecca Warren, Christopher Wool, Toby Ziegler
Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications / Ridinghouse, Berlin and London 2014
With texts by Julie Sylvester and Jean-Marie Gallais
Edited by Jean-Marie Gallais
€ 45.00
Toby Ziegler: Borderline Something
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin 2013
With a text by Jean-Marie Gallais
Edition of 400
Selected Press
The Independent August 2014
Berliner Zeitung May 2013
The Guardian October 2012
Frieze January 2011
Artforum Summer 2008