Ronia Adl-Tabatabai

My questions about silent power relations within painting become painting and inscribe themselves into a tradition. Who am I to dare to paint, to use the grand gesture of the great geniuses to fill my empty spaces. In doing so, I ask myself whether this brushstroke is not a sign, but a myth even.
In some works I shift parameters to question the aesthetic status quo, in others I fulfill the expectations of painting and reproduce them in an exaggerated way. In constant alternation of intuition and reflection, my works emerge as an aesthetic visualization and are part of my dialectical movement of thought. This movement is not limited to my head, but also requires my hand. The hand is not simply a part of the body. It is also part of the symbolic order. The baby grasps with its hands, trying to grasp the world. We act, negotiate, deal with, comprehend, pick the wrong words and are present. I think in painting and paint in thinking.

Curriculum vitae

*1991 in Mainz, DE
lives and works in Mainz, DE

Education

2021-2022 Meisterschülerin with Prof. Anne Berning, Kunsthochschule Mainz (Academy of Fine Arts Mainz), Mainz, DE
2012-2021 Freie Bildende Kunst at Kunsthochschule Mainz, painting class Prof. Winfried Virnich, Mainz, DE

Awards, Grants, Projects

since 2022 Förderatelier at Atelierhaus Waggonfabrik, Mainz, DE

Sammlungen

Landeskunstsammlung Rheinland-Pfalz (Art Collection of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate), DE
Private collections

Solo und Two-Person Shows (selection)

2026	(upcoming) "Liaison", Emde Gallery, Mainz, DE
2022	"Violets Are Blue", Meisterschülerinnen Exhibition, Kunsthochschule Mainz, Mainz, DE
2018	"How to be an Object", Showroom of Kunsthochschule Mainz, Mainz, DE

Group Shows (selection)

2026	"FEAT.", Gruppenausstellung des AKM Haus Metternich, Koblenz, DE "Rheinland-Pfalz Triennale", Trier, DE
2025	"Bowl of Oranges – 5 Jahre Emde Gallery \| Part I", Emde Gallery, Mainz, DE
2024	"Kunst bei Karrié", Karrié-Bau GmbH & Co-KG, Mainz, DE "Remix 3 – Winter Group Exhibition", Emde Gallery, Mainz, DE
2023	"Pinky Promise", Emde Gallery, Mainz, DE
2022	"part", Atelierhaus Waggonfabrik, Mainz, DE "The grass is always greener", Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
2021	"Stereo2", SPEDITION – Kunst- und Kulturverein Spedition e.V., Bremen, DE
2020	"Night", Schloss Freudenberg, Wiesbaden, DE
2019	"PUTPUTPUT", as part of the interdisciplinary exhibition project "Sockelalarm" at Kunsthochschule Mainz, funded by the GLK, Mainz, DE
2018	"usus – mit sicherheit viel vergnügen", site-specific installation and performance with Theresa Lawrenz and Bora Lee, Showroom of Kunsthochschule Mainz, Mainz, DE

Performances

2022	Performance "exterior view" with Theresa Lawrenz at Kunstverein Bellevuesaal, Wiesbaden, DE
2019	Freiheit – Tanztheater, performer and part of the choreography team
2018	Performer in the performance "u turn" by Theresa Lawrenz Performer in the performance "Selves" by Sierra Diamond Performer in the performance "Alone together" by Sierra Diamond