Christiaan Tonnis

Christiaan Dirk 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 lives in Frankfurt, Germany.

Christiaan Tonnis
Christiaan Tonnis, 2012
Born (1956-06-05) 5 June 1956
Saarbrücken, West Germany
NationalityGerman
EducationHochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main
Known forPainting, Video Art
Notable work
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1985),Virginia Woolf, William S. Burroughs (1998)
MovementContemporary art
Female Warrior #6 "Behind the Line", Pencil on board, 1982
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Pencil on board, 1985
The Bible - Solomon - Song of Songs 8, 6-7, Acrylic, rich pale gold and cloth on linen, 1997
God gave us another Gift # 9 - Blue Flower - Novalis", Photography, 2013
Kunstverein Familie Montez in June 2016, Video Still Image, 2016

Work

Tonnis’ works are "supported with psychological knowledge"[1] His earliest drawings reflect his interest in psychoanalysis and psychopathology such as, catatonic rigidity or the postnatal psychosis depicted in his 1980–85 collection. To "show the psychic as a second face" he "uses stitchings, masks and fragments of masks—they are sometimes barely visible"[2]

... in his portraits the artist Christiaan Tonnis shows us the tears in the psyche that are written into faces. In these paintings these faces are, as it were, stage areas of a forgotten Drama, only readable as old and rigid courses of action but with traces of the internal (hidden) foreigner ...

— Kai Hoffmann, Frankfurter Rundschau, 1986-02-20

In 1986, he started to paint landscapes from literature like the "Magic Mountain (after Thomas Mann)" and portraits of writers and philosophers as William S. Burroughs, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and more. His large scale triptych "Frost" is "a material image in harsh black and white which depicts a literary landscape of snow and ice in different viewpoints [...] a picturesque transformation of Thomas Bernhards 1963 novel".[3]

Since 2003 his work has become more meditative: "Geometric patterns in bright colors",[4] consistent with Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) and New Testament—the series of minimalistic "Meditation pictures".

"Catwalk!" was exhibited at the Showroom Eulengasse in Frankfurt, Germany in 2007. The exhibition consisted of a series of collages created of cats' heads on women's bodies. The most recognizable bodies are those of Virginia Woolf "with big, sad eyes" and Kate Moss.[5]

In 2006 Tonnis set up a MySpace page dedicated to Thomas Bernhard, using pictures tell his biography. The theme of the page was Bernhard's motto "In the darkness everything becomes clear."

In 2008 Tonnis started to contribute reviews on art to the style magazine Dazed Digital, London.[6]

2009: During the "Sommeratelier" at Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt,[7] he created a painting for the performance "Who let the dogs out, Edith?". This "experimental collage of different media and arts" has been a dialogue with Heinrich von Kleist's play Penthesilea, directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg in 1988 with actress Edith Clever.[8]

With the mural of a golden cross on black and violet ground—divided into pixels—Tonnis has been one of 36 international artists who designed the "Pixelkitchen" in January 2013, a tiled room of 177.2 inches height at the Günes Theatre in Frankfurt.[9] "All these artworks are glued, painted or nailed onto the walls."[10]

Tonnis' work is displayed in international publications to illustrate articles, essays, encyclopedic entries, etc.[11][12][13]

Video

Tonnis started to make videos in 2006. His subjects have included William S. Burroughs, Thomas Bernhard and the poet Georg Trakl. Alongside these works stand the video series of "Dreams", "Electrical Pictures", and animals—exhibiting a pop, surreal pictorial language, often humorously staged.

Since 2009 Tonnis produced 113 short documentaries about exhibition preparations, openings and artist interviews for the Kunstverein Familie Montez.[14] They go together with a "Family Album", created out of video stills.[15]

Solo exhibitions (selection)
  • 1986: Zeichnungen, Galerie Das Bilderhaus, Frankfurt
  • 1986: Zeichnungen, Galerie 42, Gießen
  • 1989: Christiaan Tonnis, Galerie Einbaum, Frankfurt
  • 1990: Christiaan Tonnis, Galerie Limberg, Frankfurt
  • 2006: Dialog, Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt
  • 2006: Zeichnung und Malerei, Höpershof, Hannover-Wedemark
  • 2007: CATWALK!, Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt
  • 2010: Hinter dem Spiegel (with a performance by Eva Moll), Klosterpresse, Frankfurt
  • 2011: Christiaan Tonnis: Thomas Bernhards "Frost", Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt
  • 2019: Christiaan Tonnis – Screening Montez 2009-14, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt

Group exhibitions and festivals (selection)
  • 2007: Sem Palavras / Ohne Worte, Instituto Histórico de Olinda, Olinda
  • 2008: Antarctic Meltdown, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne
  • 2008: Sanlu Yishu, Huajiadi Beili Wangjing, Beijing
  • 2008: Digital Fringe 08, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne
  • 2008: Road Movie, Frieze Film at 6. Frieze Art Fair and Channel 4, London
  • 2008: Electrofringe, This Is Not Art, Newcastle
  • 2009: Gut ist was gefällt, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt
  • 2010: 2009 Was A Rough Year – Lilly McElroy, Thomas Robertello Gallery, Chicago
  • 2012: Terremoto – Beben, by Nikolaus A. Nessler, in collaboration with Christiaan Tonnis (Film), Nico Rocznik (Light) and Manuel Stein (Sound), Kunsthaus Wiesbaden[16][17]
  • 2013: Wurzeln weit mehr Aufmerksamkeit widmen, Kunstverein Familie Montez and Der Laden/Bauhaus University, Weimar
  • 2014: Les Fleurs du Mal – Dithering Cities, Luminale, Frankfurt[18]
  • 2015: Kunst Messe Frankfurt 15, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Hall 1.2, Messe GmbH, Frankfurt
  • 2017: Supermarket 2017, Stockholm Independent Art Fair, Stockholm[19]
  • 2018: Quinceañera, Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt[20]
  • 2018: Supermarket Art Fair, Daily Film Documentation of Performances, Stockholm[21]
  • 2019: Latitudes Festival, Santa Cruz de la Sierra
  • 2019: Open/Occupy II, Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben, Berlin[22]
  • 2020: Participate NOW!, EULENGASSE @ Platforms Project Independent Art Fair Athen - Platforms Project NET[23][24]

Curated exhibitions
  • 2011: Schamanismus aus dem Großen Altai, Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt[25]
  • 2011: Meg Cebula. Geheimnis und Schönheit, Kunstverein Eulengasse, Frankfurt[26][27]

Bibliography
  • Christiaan Tonnis: "Krankheit als Symbol", Berlin Pro Business, 1. Edition 2006-11-03, 2006, ISBN 978-3-939533-34-4
  • Christiaan Tonnis, Oswald-von-Nell-Breuning-Schule and the town of Rödermark: "5+5=1!", DVD-Video (25 min.), 2011, archived at the town of Rödermark
  • "ROT" – Das Magazin des Kunstvereins Eulengasse, Axel Dielmann-Verlag, Frankfurt, 2013, p. 15-16, 145, 148-149, 15, ISBN 978-3-86638-180-3
  • Kerstin Krone-Bayer and Hanna Rut Neidhardt (Publishers): "Montez im Exil" – Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt, 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-045918-4
  • "Familie Hecht – Eine Erinnerung", 2017, DVD-Video, in collaboration with the Oswald-von-Nell-Breuning-School, Rödermark, archived at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Die Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-7655-4
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Das grafische Werk, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-6724-8
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Videos 2009 - 2017, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Werkverzeichnis, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-0580-6
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Copy and Paste, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-9175-5
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Texte und Schriften: 1986-2017, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7450-3054-9
  • Christiaan Tonnis – Catwalk: Die Collagen, epubli Verlag Berlin, 2019, ISBN 978-3-7502-5286-8

Notes
  1. Hoffmann, Kai, "Hübsches Frauengesicht als Flickwerk", Frankfurter Rundschau, 1986-02-20
  2. "Das Gesicht hinter dem Antlitz", Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung, 1986-10-20
  3. "Christiaan Tonnis: Thomas Bernhards Frost", kunstaspekte.de, 2011-08-12
  4. "Erste Vernissage im 'Höpershof'", Wedemark Echo, 2006-11-11
  5. Frick, Solveig, "Keine Angst vor Virginia Woolf", Frankfurter Rundschau, No. 86, Page 31, 2007-04-13
  6. "Contributors", Dazed Digital, Dazed & Confused Magazine
  7. Schütte, Christoph, "Kunst mit Familienanschluss", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, R4 Kultur, 2009-06-21
  8. "Gut ist was gefällt im Kunstverein Familie Montez e.V." kulturportal-hessen.de. Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
  9. Troschke, Antonia, "Menü mit Allem", Frankfurter Rundschau, No. 20, RS/B7, 2013-01-24
  10. Persson, Amelie. "Pixelkitchen". schirn–magazin.de. Archived from the original on 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  11. Warburton, Nigel, "Ludwig Wittgenstein – Language Games", Yale University Press London, 2013-04-26
  12. APA, "Innsbrucker Mediziner wollen Schizophrenie auf den Grund gehen", WirtschaftsBlatt, 2014-12-04
  13. Flores, Fabián Ramírez, "En los límites de la personalidad", magis – ITESO Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, 2010-01-18
  14. Tonnis, Christiaan, "Kunstverein Familie Montez – Werkverzeichnis 2009–2016", YouTube Playlist
  15. Tonnis, Christiaan, "Kunstverein Familie Montez – Familienalbum"
  16. "Kurze Nacht der Galerien und Museen im Kunsthaus Wiesbaden". hessen-tageblatt.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
  17. "Terremoto – Beben" kunstaspekte.de, 2012-03-24
  18. "Luminale – Biennale der Lichtkultur", Messe Frankfurt, light–building.messefrankfurt.com, Page 21
  19. Supermarket 2017 – Stockholm Independent Art Fair kunstaspekte.de. Retrieved 2017-03-24
  20. Quinceañera, artfacts.net
  21. Supermarket Art Fair - Talks and Performances, presented by Kunstverein Familie Montez supermarketartfair.com
  22. Open/Occupy II, artfacts.net
  23. Participate NOW! EULENGASSE @ Platforms Project Independent Art Fair Athen - Platforms Project NET, kunstaspekte.art
  24. Platforms Project Net 2020, artfacts.net
  25. "Алтайские художники шаманят в Германии", Контрабанда, 2011-09-12
  26. "Meg Cebula", Journal Frankfurt, No. 13, Page 76, 2011-05
  27. "Meg Cebula. Geheimnis und Schönheit" kunstaspekte.de, 2011-05-27
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