KEWENIG is pleased to present Liliane Tomasko’s (b. 1967, Zurich) first exhibition in the gallery’s space in Berlin. ‘We Sleep Where We Fall’ focuses on the most recent works by the artist, who has dedicated herself to the themes of sleep, dreams and the unconscious, both on paper as well as on canvas and aluminium surfaces, for more than 20 years. Tomasko usually explores these using the motif of the abandoned, unmade bed, in which rumpled sheets cast almost topographical-looking folds. The artist fills such everyday scenes with a special expressiveness and a very private moment, captured in the close-up of a Polaroid, and unfolds a universal effect in her paintings:

I want to engage the viewer to connect with a place which lies inside themselves. … It is my desire to touch and communicate with the person who is looking at my paintings, on a deeply human and existential level. (L. Tomasko)

The material of the bedding bears the traces of this nocturnal inner life. In the abstract works in the exhibition, the folds of the sheets dissolve into interwoven lines and overlapping layers of colour. They create depth and structure in the picture and deep- seated emotions seem to materialise in them. What emerges seems like dreamscapes, like emotions, thoughts and memories captured in material. Through her unbiased, intuitive use of colour, Tomasko captures the full spectrum of the human condition and emotions. Often, as in ‘The Question’ (2019), different moods intertwine through complex structures or simply coexist as in ‘Strident Green’ (2020).

During the first Covid-19-related lockdown in the spring of 2020, Tomasko began to work on the series ‘Hold on to Yourself’ in her New York studio. Taken from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the title of the series reflects the seriousness of this existential crisis during the rapidly spreading pandemic, in which the fragility of human existence became increasingly apparent and many people were forced to rely on themselves. At the same time, the need for simplification increased. In the mainly small-format works on paper and canvas paper, the artist acts intuitively and spontaneously in oil pastels, reducing her palette almost exclusively to black. In the paintings of the series on aluminium or linen, which are also predominantly monochrome, coloured accents increasingly emerge from the background.

Often, as in the large-scale canvas work ‘a secret that wasn’t’ from 2019, clearly defined brushstrokes stand out against blurred sections. Tomasko uncovers what is hidden in the subconscious and captures it in her paintings. In doing so, she penetrates to the essential pillars of human existence: to longings and fears, to repressed and forgotten areas of our lives that remain mostly locked away from our consciousness and yet exert a powerful influence on us: