In a broader sense, Tilman’s works on paper function as an archive of the artist’s ideas and observations. The visual information derives from various sources - found and discovered by the artist’s restless visual mind.
Usually there are no preceding sketches for Tilman’s works on paper. The visual memory finds its way directly onto the paper and undergoes a transformation into a ‘flat’ translation of the memorized image.
By way of a playful approach, the artist explores the possibilities and potential of the abstracted image.
However, in some cases, these works can be seen as ‘studies’, which later on manifest themselves partially within paintings, painted objects or architectures.
For these works on paper the artist used crayons on vellum to reveal a painterly quality and surface structure.
Tilman has created works on paper since 1982 up to the present.
Born in Munich, Germany, Tilman is an abstract artist and curator. His work includes paintings, built environments, and stacked and layered wall and floor-based objects.
He is a founder and current curatorial advisor of Dolceacqua Arte Contemporanea (d.a.c.) in Dolceacqua, Italy, and was a founder and former Chief Curator of the Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art (CCNOA) in Brussels, Belgium.
Tilman lives and works in New York City and Dolceacqua, Italy.