Gabriel Vormstein

  • Born in 1974 in Konstanz, Germany, Gabriel Vormstein studied at the Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe from 1995-2001. He currently lives and works in Berlin. His work has been exhibited at international venues such as Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Magazin Vienna, CCA Andratx, Artpace San Antonio, and the 4th Berlin Biennale. Inspired by 20th century masters such as Mondrian, Schiele, Klimt, and Warhol, Vormstein’s paintings unsettle modernism’s most iconic aesthetics to challenge the values of historical authenticity, authorship, and hierarchical power. Often appropriating art historical motifs, his images are painted directly onto newspapers rather than canvas, and sometimes incorporate common household materials as collaged elements; rendered with a fragile sensibility, their assumed meaning and connotation is made uncertain and corrupted by the underlying text and imagery.
 

GABRIEL VORMSTEIN

1974 born in Konstanz, Germany
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Education

1995 – 2001 Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, Germany

Awards

2009/2010 Nominated, Sovereign European Art Prize
2002 Graduate scholarship of Baden-Württemberg

Selected Solo exhibitions

2011
News of Today: die feeling, The Breeder, Athens
Cornament & Rime, Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad*
Catch as Catch Can, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris
The Teeth of the Wind and the Sea, Hudson (Show)Room, Artpace, San Antonio, TX
Artist in Residence, CCA Andratx, Mallorca

2010
Baby ABC, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY

2009
Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve its Possessor, Meyer Riegger Galerie, Berlin

2008
The Dream and the Ream, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris

2007
To Crawl under Ones Skin, Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe

2006
The (oII (OO) oI) -:, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY

2005
Gabriel Vormstein, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt

2004
Seems to B: Soddisfaction, Incomplection, Putrefaction, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY
La morte non trapassa, Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011
Everything must go, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY
Train Fantôme, Cruise & Callas, Berlin
Unter Helden. Vor-Bilder in der Gegenwartskunst, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg
Nouvelles du jour, JTM Gallery, Paris
From Berlin, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen
The Black Goddess, Autocenter, Berlin

2010
Break-Dance-Montgomery, Raum für Freunde, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Wenn die Nacht am Tiefsten ist, ist der Tag am Nächsten, Stern Pissarro Gallery, London
Nicolas Dusollier + Gabriel Vormstein, Galerie Koestlin, Berlin
Captain Pamphile. Bildroman in Stücken, Städtische Galerie, Waldkraiburg
Intensif-Station, K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf
Reflection: 15 Years, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY
Held up by Columns, Renwick Gallery, New York, NY
Elbevenus, Zanderkasten, Dresden
Forgotten Bar Project, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
The Berlin Box, CCA Andratx, Mallorca
Seltsam, so Lose im Raum, Kulturstiftung Schloss Agathenburg, Agathenburg

2009
Cargo Manifest, Kunsthalle Autocenter, Berlin, Germany, traveled to Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich
Gallery III, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY
Berlin 2000, PaceWildenstein, New York, NY*
Pamphile Show. Ein Bildroman in Stücken, JET / Lena Ziese, Berlin
Group Show Part 1: Don Brown, Daniel Lergon, R.H.Quaytman, Gabriel Vormstein, Lawrence Weiner, Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels

2008
First Selection, Cruise & Callas, Berlin
Blast from the Past (part 1), Galerie Art Attitude Hervé Bize, Nancy
Subconchicness, Ballhaus Ost, Berlin
Techne, Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin*
Menschen und Orte, Kunstverein Konstanz and Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie, Konstanz*
Fit to Print, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

2007
Paul Thek in the Context of Today’s Contemporary Art, ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe*
This Winter, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY
Making and Finding, The Foundation To-Life, Inc. Exhibition Space, Mount Kisco, NY
Evangelisch – Katholisch VI (Finale), Montgomery, Berlin*
School of Flowers. Come let us smile a little space/upon fond nature’s morbid Grace, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus
Made in Germany, Sprengel Museum, Hannover*
May the Twelfth, STORE gallery, London

2006
Nous tous sommes la pluie, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris
Within a Budding Grove, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto
Of Mice and Men, 4th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin*

2005
William Blake & Sons: Alternative Lifestyles and Mysticism in Contemporary Art, Lewis Glucksmann Gallery, Cork, Ireland and Model Arts & Niland Gallery,Sligo*
Liquid Crystal, Lothringer 13. Städtische Kunsthalle München, Munich

2004
Dani Jakob, Sebastian Hammwöhner, Gabriel Vormstein, GalerieBowie Van Valen, Amsterdam
Deutschland Sucht, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln*
Strategies of Desire, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel
Let the Wind Catch a Rainbow on Fire…, Filiale, Basel

2003
actionbutton, Neuerwerbungen zur Bundessammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin*
deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt*
There´s no Land but the Land (up there is just a Sea of Possibilities), Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe
Painting on the Roof, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach*, traveled to Paolo Curti, Milan
Quetzalcoatl comes through, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach*

2002
Event Horizon, Lothringer 13. Städtische Kunsthalle München, Munich

2001
Kunststudenten stellen aus, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn*
Circles °5. Berlin – Montana Sacra, ZKM. Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe*
Der Wegelagerer, Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe
Viva November, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg*
Wandbilder, Atelier Jenny Rosemeyer, Berlin

2000
Moon White Future, Hobbypop Museum, Düsseldorf
Sympathie!, Montparnasse, Berlin
Corriger la Fortune, Montparnasse, Berlin
Genre Painting, G7, Berlin

* Catalogue

Collections

Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples
K 21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt
Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
Indigo Collection, Ragdan El-Akabi, London
Sammlung Würth, Schwäbisch Hall
Sprengelmuseum, Hannover