Tomma Abts

Tomma Abts works at a single scale: 18⅞ by 15 inches, or 34 by 25. The paintings — acrylic and oil on canvas, sometimes bronze or aluminum interrupting the plane — are built through layers of revision, each form arriving by way of the one it replaces.

The work is geometric but never programmatic. Curves fold into angles, color sits against color, and the surface holds a history of decisions made slowly. She titles each piece with invented names: Jeldo, Nanko, Oeke.

Born in Kiel, Germany, Abts has lived and worked in London since 1995. She was awarded the Turner Prize in 2006, and her work has been shown at the New Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, Kunsthalle Basel, and the Serpentine Gallery.