Galerie b2

As with Tobias Hild’s last exhibitions at Galerie b2_, „Fourteen Years of Passivity“ and „Development“, stories can quickly be gleaned from the new paintings, whether interior, genre or landscape. Not only the triad of exhibition titles suggests an overlap between the artist and the literary self of these narratives. Hild always suggests a comic autofiction that leads to the authentication of the paintings. This creates an amiable counterpart, who sometimes smiles, sometimes sighs, but always with friendly composure and a gentleness peculiar to Hild’s work, who talks about life, dreams, mirages, jokes and absurdities. Last but not least, it is the pernicious continuation, the reflections on the joy and frustration of artistic work, which runs as a common thread through the pictures. That pleasure predominates is evident in the painting style, in which everything seems permitted, old things are repeatedly painted over or sanded down, speed and intuitive care alternate and colour becomes a well-considered, pleasant means of setting both the narrative and the painting.
Tobias Hild’s works do not remain on the risk-free surface, but go deeper – this becomes clear at the latest through the title of the exhibition, „Won against one’s own biography“, which shows the dialectic of winning: there are always losses even in victory, whether on the side of the conquered or through the expenditure of the means needed for success. Those who win against their own biography have achieved a lot beforehand, but had to leave a part of themselves behind. To be able to look positively at such a situation requires a certain perspective and a corresponding narrative. Tobias Hild presents these in his new paintings in a humorous and thoroughly enjoyable way, but always with the necessary amount of downer.