Christiaan Tonnis
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| Christiaan Tonnis | |
| Born | 5 June 1956 Frankfurt |
| Nationality | German |
| Field | Painting, Video Art |
| Training | Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach |
| Movement | Contemporary art |
| Works | Self Injury 1, 1981 |
Christiaan Tonnis (born June 5, 1956, Saarbrücken, Germany) is a German symbolist/realist painter, draftsman, video artist and published author. He studied at the HfG Offenbach with Dieter Lincke and Herbert Heckmann and is currently residing in Frankfurt, Germany.
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[edit] Work
Tonnis’ "works are consequentially supported with psychological knowledge"[1] The earliest drawings reflect his interest for literature relative to psychoanalysis and psychopathology such as, catatonic rigidity or the postnatal psychosis depicted in his 1980-1985 collection. To "show the psychic as a second face" he "uses stitchings, masks and fragments of masks - they are sometimes barely visible"[2]
In 1986, he starts to paint portraits of writers and philosophers indicated in the first place, the inner condition of the protagonists. I. e. "he stylizes the philosopher Wittgenstein to a scetchily Icon of a soulless prominence. An almost gruesome picture, expressive in its amply color scheme of white, grey and black, almost like a mold of a Hippocratic face"[3]
Since 2003 his work makes a shift toward a more meditative approach: "Geometric patterns in bright colors",[4] consistent with Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) and New Testament - the series of minimalistic "Meditation pictures".
Video depictions emerge in the year of 2006: impressionism over such writers as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Bernhard, and the poet Georg Trakl. Alongside of these serious works stands the video series of "Dreams", "Electrical Pictures", and animals – exhibiting a pop, surreal pictorial language, often humorously staged.
"Catwalk" is exhibited at the Showroom Eulengasse in Frankfurt, Germany in 2007 as well. The exhibit is a series of collages created of cat's heads on women’s physiques. The most known physiques displayed are those of Virginia Woolf "with big, sad eyes" and Kate Moss.[5]
With a series of silhouettes on monochromatic colored paper, Tonnis renews his idea of "Meditation pictures", painted earlier in 2003. The following series "In Memory of Joseph Beuys' Party for Animals" – Catwomen posing in front of Beuys' reproductions – refers to the Party for Animals (founded by Joseph Beuys in 1969) as well as to his work.[6]
Produced in 2006 and made public for 10 days in January 2008: A MySpace page "dedicated to Thomas Bernhard in which every picture is from a story or a scene in his autobiography. The theme of the page (...) is Bernhard's motto: In the darkness everything becomes clear."[7] In 2008 Tonnis starts to contribute reviews on art to the style magazine DazedDigital.com, London.[8]
[edit] Further reading
- Rothfuss, Joan "Joseph Beuys – The Natural World", Gallery Guides, Walker Art Center, walkerart.org
[edit] Bibliography
- Christiaan Tonnis, "Krankheit als Symbol", Berlin Pro Business, 1. Edition 2006-11-03, ISBN 978-3-939533-34-4
[edit] Notes
- ^ Hoffmann, Kai, "The Tears in the Psyche" ("Hübsches Frauengesicht als Flickwerk"), Frankfurter Rundschau, 1986-02-20
- ^ "The Face behind the Countenance", Giessener Allgemeine, 1986-10-20
- ^ Hoffmann, Kai, "Face-Fragment as a Mask", Frankfurter Rundschau, 1990-08-30
- ^ "First Vernissage at 'Höpershof'", Wedemark Echo, 2006-11-11
- ^ Frick, Solveig, "Don´t be afraid of Virginia Woolf", Frankfurter Rundschau, 2007-04-13
- ^ "In memory of Joseph Beuys' Party of Animals", Christiaan Tonnis – Website Part 2, JPG 408, 2007
- ^ Mitchelmore, Stephen, "Thomas Bernhard on MySpace", This Space, 2008-01-10
- ^ DazedDigital.com, Members Area, 2008
