Toby Ziegler

Symbolic Impasse, 2008
Oil and gold leaf on canvas, bonsai

Toby Ziegler was born in 1972. He currently lives and works in London. He graduated from Central Saint Martin‘s in 1994 and held a residency at Delfina Studios between 2004 and 2006. Ziegler has exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad, notably at the Yorkshire Sculpture Parkin Wakefield and Chisenhale Gallery in London, his most recent solo show in London was The Liberals, held at Simon Lee Gallery in October 2008. He has contributed to numerous group shows including the Hamsterwheel at Konsthall, Sweden, Parkhausat at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf,Germany and Archipenture: Painters Build Architecturem, Camden Arts Centre, London. His work is held in significant public and private collections, such as the British Council, the Arts Council and the Tate Gallery; currently his painting The Hedonistic Imperative (2nd version), 2006 is hanging in the Contemporary Painting room at Tate Modern (Level 3, Room 6).
For his paintings Ziegler will initially render the picture plane with 3D software and then transfers this to the canvas as a schematic drawing. The images are then bastardized with broad, gestural brushstrokes. The amalgamation of the traditions of painting, in this case landscape painting, with digital technologies the artist explores the role of painting in a post photography era.
For Symbolic Impasse the artist uses the motif of clouds as a way to emphasize the absurdity in rendering this elusive form with rigid geometric pattern. By placing a fake Bonsai tree in front the painting the artist transforms the work from a painting on landscape into actual terrain.