"Berlin-based Tore Rinkveld, aka Evol, is perhaps best known for transforming everyday features of our cityscape into miniature concrete tower blocks through the medium of paint. Inspired by architecture, which he sees as a mirror for society, he paints directly onto the surface of electric enclosures, concrete planters and other familiar elements of the modern city, as well as working on found materials such as cardboard. Drawing on his background in graffiti, he uses his artistic skills to explore the inner workings of the city and makes us look at our surroundings in a new light.
Evol often takes photographs of buildings as he wanders around Berlin, with a particular interest in the postwar socialist architecture of the former East Germany. Although originally constructed with the ideology of a socialist utopia, areas of this city - and others like it that have been subject to governmental programmes - are, architecturally, a far cry from the original vision. Many of the buildings Evol depicts are grey, functional and in a style that has fallen out of favour, yet they have a brutalist, monumental appeal. The artist draws our attention to the striking geometry of the architecture and everyday details we sometimes take for granted: a billowing tarpaulin hung from a scaffolding, shadows cast from a balcony or light falling on a curtain. Unpopulated by figures, these works contain signs of life - the exteriors of compartments in which people live and work - but are eerily quiet.
We are drawn into these intricacies partly because of the astonishing small scale of the works, which the artist achieves by carefully applying many layers of light and shade to build up a realistic image. With a wonderful eye for detail, he picks up all the nuances of the grey concrete buildings and reduces them down to miniature apartment blocks. Camouflage is a key element in the artist's work. When he paints on electrical enclosure, the metal box is often drab, weathered and covered in graffiti. These features are integrated into the work, but they're also used to play with the passer-by's natural associations - to make us do a double take. In the blinking lights of the city centre, they invite us to take another look and remind us of the dystopian ghettos on the outskirts of the city.
In contrast, Evol's studio works, created on found cardboard boxes, celebrate the architecture of an earlier time - the simple Berlin townhouses built around 1910, which have survived two world wars and totalitarian regimes. These ordinary buildings are typical of the neighborhood the artist has lived in for years - relics of a bygone era that have not yet succumbed to the gentrification sweeping the area. The cardboard provides a rich patina on which to stencil, with existing marks and structures reflecting the passage of time on the walls. The printed graphics, tape and other minute details found on the cardboard also echo the distressed nature and visual pollution of real urban landscapes. In both his studio-based works and his temporary street installations, Evol reduces the environment that surrounds us to bite-sized pieces. Through this reversal of scale, he somehow renders the work harmless: while evoking a stark urban environment, they remain charming and approachable. At the same time, the artist claims small spaces for his art by re-using the existing infrastructure, transforming it subtly and simply with shades of black and white."
(by Tristan Manco from "Big Art / Small Art", Thames&Hudson, London, 2014)
2001 HFG Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
2000 Kuopio Acadamy of Arts and Crafts, Finland
2019
It is what it isn’t and it isn’t what it is, Zone Contemporaine, Bern, Switzerland
2018
DoppelPlusModern (together with Alekos Hofstetter), School Building Sckellstraße, Dortmund
Housing, Galleria del Cembalo, Rome, Italy
2015
Unreal Estate, Jonathan LeVine gallery, New York, USA
Homework, Aedes Architecture Forum, Berlin, Germany
2012
EVOL, Galerie Bodson-Emelinckx, Brussels, Belgium
Repeat Offender, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, USA
2011
VOLTA NY, presented by WILDE Gallery, New York, USA
2010
EVOL, Galerie Bodson-Emelinckx, Brussels, Belgium
Breakable Products, Galerie Brötzinger Art, Pforzheim, Germany
Balancity, German Pavilion, World Expo, Shanghai, China
2009
EVOL - New Work, WILDE Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2020
Walls, curated by Fabrice Douar & Cyrille Gouyette (Louvre Museum, Paris) and Pascal Feuchner, Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin
2019
Murs, Huberty & Breyne Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
ARTURb 2019, LAC - Laboratório de Actividades Criativas, Lagos, Portugal
Nuart Aberdeen festival, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
2018
Nur Nach Vorne, Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
Window Works, Schaufenster, Berlin, Germany
Shifted Tags / Erben des Graffiti, Kunstverein Villa Streccius in Landau e.V., Germany
2017
A Hard Place, 500x Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA
Nice to Meet You Too!, Die Kunstagentin, Köln, Germany
Cross the Streets, MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
The Brutalism Appreciation Society, HMKV im Dortmunder U, Dortmund, Germany
2016
Schöne Bescherung, Die Kunstagentin, Köln, Germany
Urbanopolis, Galerie LJ, Paris, France
Art 42 Urban Art / Collection Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, Paris, France
Nuart Festival, Stavanger, Norway
Neue Heimat, Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin, Germany
Urban Abstract, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nur nicht nach Hause, Zwitschermaschine, Berlin, Germany
2015
XI Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale 'Touching Practices', Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Russia
Radikal Modern, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
HIP-HOP, du Bronx aux rues arabes, L’Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France
Berges de Seine, Port de Solferino, Paris, France
2014
Project M⁄6, curated by Jonathan LeVine, Urban Nation, Berlin, Germany
Artbat Fest 2014, curated by Christina Steinbrecher, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Language of the Wall, curated by Roxane Ayral, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Lasco Project #3, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Project M/3, curated by Nuart, Urban Nation, Berlin, Germany
2013
Pierres, Papiers, Peintures, Pierrevives, Montpellier, France
Art Ovrag 2013, Vyksa, Russia
Looking for Freedom, Chimera Project, Budapest, Hungary
Un Rêve Habité, Maison des Arts, Grandquevilly, Belgium
2012
Paint and Pressure, Gallery inOperable, Vienna, Austria
8 Years Supalife - Forever, Galerie Neurotitan, Berlin, Germany
Street Art Doping, Quarter Project, Szpitalna /Chmielna /Bracka /Zgoda, Warsaw, Poland
Vues sur Mur - l'imprimé dans l'art urbain, Centre de la Gravure et de l'Image Imprimée, La Louviere, Belgium
The Re-jects, Reed Projects Gallery, Stavanger, Norway
Fragments of Architecture, Gist Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2011
A sight for eye sores, Pictures On Walls, London, UK
"Rewriting Worlds", 4th Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, curated by Peter Weibel, Artplay Design Center, Moscow, Russia
Dockville Kunstfestival, Hamburg, Germany
De Stad 3D, in the framework of Week of Architecture, Hilversum, Netherlands
Graffiti 21, Museum Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte, Germany
Berlin Next!, La Gaite Lyrique, Paris, France
2010
Pubic Viewing: Recent photographs by EVOL and JUST, WILDE Gallery, Berlin, Germany (European Month of Photography highlight, catalogue)
Blowin'Up The Spot, curated by Lukas Feireiss, Neon Chocolat Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Lissone Prize 2010, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lissone, Italy
Re-Imagining Architecture. Between Fact and Fiction, curated by Lukas Feireiss, AedesLand, Berlin, Germany
NUART Street Art Festival, Stavanger, Norway
Summer Invitational, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, USA
Constructed Spaces, Gist Galerie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2009
ARTotale - Leuphana Urban Art Project, Lüneburg, Germany
Ostrale’09, Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Dresden, Germany
Street/Studio, Irvine Contemporary, Washington DC, USA
Berliner Unkraut, curated by Gabe Scott and Jay Howell, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Paper Trail, curated by Steven Perelman, Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, USA
Slick Berlin 09, in the framework of Slick Art Fair, Point Ephémère, Paris, France
2008
CTINK, EVOL & PISA73, Galerie Iterrance, Paris, France
Association Le M.U.R. commission, Paris, France
OFF THE WALL – From Vandalism to Urban Art, WILDE Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Walden im U.F.O., projekthaus, Galerie Walden, Berlin, Germany
Art Brussels 2012, presented by Bodson&Emelinckx Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Art Chicago 2010, presented by Wilde Gallery, Chicago, USA
Scope NY 2010, presented by Wilde Gallery, New York, USA
Scope Miami 2009, presented by Wilde Gallery, Miami, USA
Preview Berlin 2009, presented by Wilde Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Scope NY 2009, presented by WILDE Gallery, New York, USA
2012
Teresa Bulgarini Prize (nomination), Salzburg, Austria
2010
ARTE PRIZE at SLICK Art Fair, Paris, France
Premio Lisssone Prize (nomination), Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Lissone, Italy
