Tamara K.E.
K.E. first became known for socially critical paintings that combined conceptual inquiry with a critique of cultural and political codes. Her more recent, predominantly large-scale works bring traditional painting and drawing into contact with printed and mediated imagery. In recent years, she has been developing two new series of work that take her own large-scale charcoal drawings as points of departure, passing them through successive AI-assisted transformations before returning them to painting, drawing, and object-based form. Across her practice, K.E. establishes open, shifting systems of codes and signifiers, creating a stage for what she describes as a “farewell to history”: a movement beyond inherited narratives toward a yet unseen future.
K.E. studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she graduated in 2004. She represented Georgia at the 50th Venice Biennale and was invited to the 1st Prague Biennial. Her work has been presented internationally, including at Hamburger Kunsthalle; the CoBrA Museum, Amstelveen; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal; Haus Huth / Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; the Central House of Artists, Moscow; and Kunsthalle Göppingen, among others. Her body of work Next Comes Democracy, created in collaboration with Hans Mayer Gallery, Düsseldorf, is on permanent display at Daimler Contemporary Headquarters at Haus Huth, Berlin. Tamara K.E. has received several art awards, including the Kunstpreis der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, the UBS Art Award for Young Art, and the European Prize for Painting.
K.E. is included in 100 Painters of Tomorrow, published by Thames & Hudson in 2014. Her first monograph, none of us and somewhere else (Kehrer Verlag, 2007), with essays by Boris Groys and Renate Wiehager, focused on her socio-critical approach. Her second monograph, fading song in the wide open, was published by DISTANZ Verlag in collaboration with editor Uta Grosenick and includes essays by Gregor Jansen and Gean Moreno.
Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany
Solo and Group Exhibitions
2027
(Upcoming) Kvareli Foundation, Kvareli / Tbilisi, Georgia (Upcoming) Sammlung Anton Schmölzer, Bad Ischl, Austria (Upcoming) Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, USA
2026
Neighbors, Gathering, Chicago, USA (Upcoming) Eve's Occasional Cigarette, Gathering, Ibiza, Spain
2025
NADA Miami, Window Project, Miami, Florida
Toxic Birds of Metaphysics, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, USA
Love You, Don‘t Love You, Gathering, London, UK
Art Genève, Gathering, Geneva, Switzerland
2024
Sports Illustrated, Frieze No.9 Cork Street, London, UK
Ouch, Behncke Gallery, Munich, Germany
Asia Now, with Window Project Tbilisi, Paris, France
Tamara K.E., Brian DeGraw and Tamo Jugeli: The rose is the rose and is the cat, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, USA
2022
Regret, Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia
The Piquantries, B&E Contemporary, Athens, Greece
2021
Tamara K.E.: Explaining Hare He was Never Here, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
2020
31: Women, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Tamara K.E.: Ink Under The Skin, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
2019
Tamara K.E.: Five Minutes of Random Love, Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
2016
Six: A benefit for Regina Rex, Regina Rex, New York, USA
2015
Screwed Up Screens, Four Six One Nine and Johannes Vogt Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Surph: The Barn Show, Johannes Vogt, New York, USA
Unwheeled, Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London, UK
2013
Tamara K.E.: The Day After the Future, Johannes Vogt, New York, USA
Untitled, Agency LA, Miami, USA
2012
Untitled, Johannes Vogt Gallery, Miami, USA
2011
New Acquisitions, Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany
Unscharf, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Private/Corporate IV, Daimler Contemporary, Haus Huth, Berlin, Germany
2009
Born in Georgia, Cobra Museum, Museum of Art, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
Suspended. Georgien/ Russland, Begegnungen auf einem anderen Terrain, Neues Kunstforum, Cologne, Germany
2008
Urban Female Entertainment (with Anna K.E.), Pilot Projekt e.V., Dusseldorf, Germany
do you make friends, or stay home?, with Thea Gvetadze, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany
2007
Take Your Rotten Wings, Kunstverein Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Private/Corporate IV, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Haus Huth, Berlin, Germany (Cat.)
The Pioneers II, Voss Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2006
Outside Europe, Aus der Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, Stadtgalerie, Kiel, Germany
Interzon@s, Kunsthalle Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain (Cat.)
2005
Regarding Düsseldorf, Kunstverein 701, Düsseldorf, Germany (Cat.)
Kleines Affektchen III, Performance/Video, museum kunst palast, Dusseldorf, Germany
Outside Europe, Aus der Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
Kleines Affektchen II, Performance/Video, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
Museum of Fundamental Archeology, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany
2004
Suite 106, NY, USA
MadDonna and Donna Corleone, Galerie Voss, Dusseldorf, Germany
Collection DaimlerChrysler, Stuttgart, Germany
Foreign Affairs, PAN Kunstforum, Emmerich, Germany (Cat.)
Kleines Affektchen I, Installation/Performance/Video, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
2003
Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany
Periphery Becomes Centre, Prague Biennale, Prague, Czech Republic (Cat.)
Accrochage, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Museum of Fundamental Archeology, Georgian Pavillion, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2002
Tom Green and My Favorite Blondes, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany
Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne, Germany
Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
2001
Moving Pictures, 5. Internationale Fototriennale, Galerie der Stadt Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany (Cat.)
Collection DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Stuttgart, Germany
Galerie von Lintel & Nusser, Munich, Germany
Die Kunsthexen, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany (Cat.)
Grand Canyon, Performance/Video, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
About Virgins (mit Thea Gvetadze), Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany
High Class Toys and the Regenerated Man, Gallery von Lintel & Nusser, Munich, Germany
2000
Gib Gas, Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, Berlin, Germany
European Prize for Painting, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Oostende, Belgium (Cat.)
Accrochage, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
UBS Art Award 2000, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (Cat.)
Deutsche Kunst in Moskau, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
Die Kunsthexen, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Art Cologne, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Next comes Democracy, Installation für Collection DaimlerChrysler AG, Berlin, Germany
1999
Glück Durch Paarung, Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany (Cat.)
Word Volume, Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne, Germany
Kunstpreis der Deutschen Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (Cat.)
Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany
1998
Fazit, Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne, Germany
In Case You Don’t Live in New York, Schueppenhauer Gallery, Cologne, Germany
The Private View, Beck & Eggeling Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
The Loser and the Treasury, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
The Portrait of a Family, Villa Merkel / Bahnwärterhaus, Esslingen, Germany
1997
The Loser and the Treasury, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
Portrait of a Family, Galerie der Stadt Villa Merkel, Bahnwärterhaus, Esslingen, Germany
1994
Treasury of the Context, Villa Walberta, Feldafing, Germany
Züge, Züge, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany
Selected Press
13 Apr 2026
Tamara K.E.'s works at Neighbors, Chicago are featured in Observer's article
15 Jul 2025
Tamara K.E.'s solo show Toxic Birds of Metaphysics at Polina Berlin Gallery has been featured as one of Artforum's Must See exhibitions for July
23 Apr 2024
Gathering is delighted to announce the representation of Georgian artist Tamara K.E.