One of the most celebrated painters of his generation, Adrian Ghenie's dynamic work combines his personal memories with collective trauma, both past and present. He draws upon the profoundly personal and the art historical, as well as a sense of national identity, in works which bridge the abstract and figurative. His paintings engage not only with the history of painting, but with 'painting the texture of history' and often include the personalities whose actions have defined its course, whether heroes or villains. Investigating the possibilities of his medium is always central to Ghenie's practice and, by fusing the grand themes and narratives of historical painting with contemporary forms, his works become less about their specific subject-matter and more about the act of painting itself.
The artist's expressive handling of paint is heightened by cinematic lighting and compositions influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch. He draws upon personal memories, art historical references, film stills and images culled from the internet, which are cut out and fused to form the fabric of his paintings. Ghenie's working process involves creating collaged compositions, which he then transfers to canvas with a palette knife to create gestural strokes and textures. The deconstructed images often contain references to his artistic predecessors, including Théodore Géricault, Henri Rousseau and, in his hybrid self-portraits, Vincent van Gogh.
Born in 1977 in Baia Mare, Romania, Ghenie lives and works in Berlin. He was selected to represent Romania at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and, more recently, had solo exhibitions in 2019 at the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg and the Palazzo Cini, Venice. The artist has created several installations conceived as a 'room within a room' – The Dada Room (2010), now in the permanent collection of S.M.A.K. Ghent, and The Darwin Room (2013–14), in the collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. His previous solo exhibitions include shows at The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2019); Palazzo Cini, Venice (2019); Villa Medici, Rome (2017); CAC Málaga, Spain (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver (2012); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (2010); and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (2009). He has also participated in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles (2016); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2012); Palazzo Grassi (2011); and Tate Liverpool (2008), among others.
2021
Adrian Ghenie: We Had Everything Before Us, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
2020
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Adrian Ghenie, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2019
'I have turned my only face...', The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Battle between Carnival and Feast, Palazzo Cini, Venice, Italy
2018
Jungles in Paris, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2017
Adrian Ghenie: Nightscape, Galerie Plan B, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie: The Graces, Galerie Juerg Judin, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy
Adrian Ghenie: Recent Paintings, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2015
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Darwin's Room, 56th International Art Exhibition, Romanian Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
I will go there, take me home, The MAC | Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, UK
2014
Adrian Ghenie, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Adrian Ghenie: Golems, Pace Gallery, London, UK
Adrian Ghenie: Berlin Noir, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2013
Adrian Ghenie: New Paintings, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2012
Adrian Ghenie: Pie-Fights and Pathos, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO, USA
2011
Adrian Ghenie, Haunch of Venison, London, UK
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2010
Adrian Ghenie, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kuns, Ghent, Belgium
Adrian Ghenie: The Hunted, Nolan Judin, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2009
Adrian Ghenie: Rainbow at dawn, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Adrian Ghenie, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania
Adrian Ghenie: Darkness for an Hour, Haunch of Venison, London, UK
2008
Adrian Ghenie: The Flight into Egypt, Nolan Judin, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie: Works on Paper, Galeria Plan B, Berlin, Germany
Adrian Ghenie, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2007
Adrian Ghenie: Dig and Hide, Chung King Project, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Adrian Ghenie: The Shadow of a Daydream, Haunch of Venison, Zürich, Switzerland
Adrian Ghenie: They Say This Place Does not Exist, Wohnmaschine, Berlin, Germany
2006
If You Open It You Get Dirty, Galeria Plan B, Cluj, Romania
2021
Diversity United. Contemporary European Art. Moscow. Berlin. Paris., Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia; Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
Enjoy and Take Care!, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2019
Live Forever, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
The Influencing Machine, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
Adrian Ghenie, La Fondazione, Rome, Italy
La Brique, the Brick, Cărămida | 43 Romanian artists, 54 artworks, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, France
KUNST KUNST KUNST, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2018
The Adderall and the Ecstasy, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
2017
Something Living, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
The Hierophant, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
2016
Take Care, Amigo, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Très Traits, Fondation Van Gogh, Arles, France
Chere(s) Ami(e)s, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2015
Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916–2016, Vienna Biennale 2015, Museum für angewandte Kunst Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Run for the Roses, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Painting Show – Part One, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
2014
Love Story – The Anne & Wolfgang Titze Collection, Winter Palace and 21er Haus, Vienna, Austria
2013
Nightfall: New Tendencies in Figurative Painting, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
2012
Six Lines of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
Francis Bacon and the Existential Condition in Contemporary Art, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
European Travellers: Art from Cluj Today, Mücsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
2011
Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Art of Climbing Mountains, 303 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, François Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
One of a Thousand Ways to Defeat Entropy, Arsenale Novissimo, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2010
After the Fall, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, USA; Knoxville Museum of Art, TN, USA
The Crystal Hypothesis, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy
Romanian Cultural Resolution: Figurative Painting in Romania, 1970–2010, Spinnerei Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Mircea Pinte Collection, Museum of Art Cluj, Cluj, Romania
Berlin Show #2, Plan B, Berlin, Germany
2009
I've Watered a Horseshoe as if It Were a Flower, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA USA
Show Me a Hero, Calvert 22, London, UK
Stagingthe Grey, Prague Biennale 4, Prague, Czech Republic
Featuring 2, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris, France
The Punishment of Lust and Luxury, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2008
Drawings & Other Works on Paper, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Liverpool Biennial 2008: Made Up, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
BERLIN SHOW #1, Galeria Plan B, Berlin, Germany
RE-CONSTRUCTION - 3rd Edition of the Biennial of Young Artists, Sala Dalles, Bucharest, Romania
Days Become Nights, Galerie Hussenot, Paris, France
2007
Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Muresan, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Size Matters: XS - Recent Small-Scale Paintings, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, USA
Janis Avotins, Adrian Ghenie, Andrew Palmer, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
Expanded Painting 2, Prague Biennale 3, Prague, Czech Republic
Eastern European Painting Now, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX, USA
Across The Trees, David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2006
Please Drive Slowly Through Our World, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Cluj Connection, Haunch of Venison, Zürich, Switzerland
Small Wonder, Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
Belgium
Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
China
Long Museum, Shanghai
France
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Korea
Amore Pacific Museum of Art, Seoul
Kolon Foundation, Seoul
Spain
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Málaga
UK
Tate, London
USA
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA