Tobias Madison

The artistic work of Tobias Madison (born 1985 in Basel, Switzerland) incorporates a broad spectrum of diverse media: from computer generated images and sculptural objects, to installations, videos, photographs and scans, as well as curating and publishing projects. This diversity and his programmatic rejection of art historical categorization is grounded in a convincing logic and consistency based on three factors: the process-like character of his works, their playful treatment of references, and his frequent collaboration with other artists.
Madison studied photography at the Zurich University of the Arts. He has had many impressive solo and group exhibitions at major institutions, including the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2013, as well as the Kunstverein München and the Swiss Institute in New York in 2010.
Madison’s series of works called “Drawings” were created especially for his exhibition in the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in 2010. These works can be regarded as a contemporary commentary on one of the key themes of Concrete and Constructivist Art: the possibilities and limitations of computer programmed art. This subject was also explored by the philosopher Max Bense in the 1950s, who discussed it with young artists at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm.
For his “Drawings,” Madison studied the graphic program Photoshop and its active software chains of commands to create computer-generated prints, whose abstract structures of colors and forms are reminiscent of Op Art and Art Informel. By framing the “Drawings” in Amaranth (a valuable, purple tropical wood), the inner sides of which are refined with white gold leaf, Madison connects two different timelines: that of a fast-paced, digital world, and an aesthetic language that refers to art historical values of permanence.

Britta Schröder