The making of Tobias Pils’ permanent fresco “Alpha, Omega & Infinity”: At the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay

  • Tobias Pils has just recently completed a large wall fresco, Alpha, Omega & Infinity in the main entrance hall of a new university building by Renzo Piano for the École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay. Scroll down to watch the full “making of” video. 

  • From a palette of blacks and whites, and their deriving hues of grey, Tobias Pils (b. 1971 in Linz, Austria, lives and works in Vienna) creates paintings that vibrate with texture, and that are filled with unexpected depths and infinite tones. His suggestive figurations are not entirely legible nor altogether abstract, but rather create associative worlds of forms that appear as paradoxes that resist a straightforward reading. Following intuition and disregarding strict methodology, Pils pursues his ideas as they evolve during their making. He says of his process: “When I start to paint, I have quite a clear idea of the motive … the goal is to lose the idea through painting.”

  • Tobias Pils’ recent institutional exhibitions include the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2020);  Musée Picasso Paris (2020); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2020); Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop (2018); Le Consortium, Dijon (2018); Aspen Art Museum (2018); 21er Haus, Vienna (2017); Kunsthalle Krems (2017); Chinati Foundation / John Chamberlain Building, Marfa (2016); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2010); among others. In 2016, Tobias Pils took part in the residency program of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. He was awarded the ISCP Scholarship New York in 2014, the Anton Faistauer Prize for Painting in 2011 and the Otto Mauer Prize in 1994. 

     

    Pils has also presented his paintings as large, unified installation works, both at Art Basel Unlimited in 2016 and Secession, Vienna in 2013.