Gert & Uwe Tobias - Come and see before the Tourists will do. The Mystery of Transylvania
29 October 2004—10 January 2005
Galerie Michael Janssen, Cologne

The work "Come and see before the Tourists will do – the Mistery of Transylvania" of the two Cologne based Twin brothers Gert und Uwe Tobias consists in a series of 26 coloured woodcuts. The main subject of the series is the topic of Transylvania and its stereotype klishees and mysteries. Refering to their own cultural background – in 1985 they resettled with their family from Romania to Germany – the question of identity is one of the major focus of their work.

The titles of the works are all film titles of mostly cheap Vampire and Dracula Movies, taken from a list, found in the internet. The combination of the titles with the abstracted traditional transylvanien motives and ornaments leave a wide space for associations.

Using woodcut as a medium to produce painting in a very refreshing and enourmesly interesting way, renews at the same time the most traditional way to produce an image and gives the work their certain expressivity.

Gert & Uwe Tobias, Come and see before the Tourists will do - The Mystery of Transylvania, Installation view, 2004, Galerie Michael Janssen, Cologne