Abby Wheeler
Abby Wheeler is a textile artist originally from the United States. Her pieces question the boundaries between art and design by engaging the nature of curiosity on visual, textural and conceptual planes. One could regard her works as useful as well as something to behold. The objects are meant to be ambiguous; are they intended for the home or an interior of a gallery? What is their value and is this value something objective, or in the eyes of the beholder? Her works explore the fabrication of value, believing that art’s constituent parts are basically worthless, but when assembled in a certain way, by certain individuals, and in certain contexts, this worthlessness is elevated into something greater than the sum of its parts.
Together with her husband, Leo, the pair formed a mutual studio practice in 2018 focusing on creating visual dialogues between each other and their works. Under the name Opt Studios, the function of their work intends to illuminate aesthetic ambiguities. This intention of embracing the undefined is to seek the creation of questions rather than answers.
Education
2014-2018 BA, Weißensee Kunsthochschule (Weißensee School of Art) Berlin, Germany
2018-2019 MA, Universität der Künste (University of the Arts) Berlin, Germany
Exhibitions
2022 Gallery Weekend at Andreas Murkudis, Berlin, Germany
2020 Noble Facets and Other Tangents, Group Show in Atelier, Berlin, Germany
2020 Objects of Value, Group Show in Greifswalder 35, Berlin, Germany
2020 Teppiche Kollektion, Exhibition in Window.Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2019 We Are In This Together, MA Exhibition, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany
2019 Art Week Exhibition at Andreas Murkudis, Berlin, Germany
2019 KIOSK Exhibition at Hund Hund, Berlin, Germany
2018 Apartment 98 Opening at Andreas Murkudis, Berlin, Germany
2018 Paris Design Days during Maison et Objet at Boon Room, Paris, France
2018 3 Days of Design, Frama Studio Showroom, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018 Gallery Weekend at Andreas Murkudis, Berlin, Germany
2017 Visions 4 People, Remise Brunnenstrasse Berlin, Germany
2017 SCHNITTSTELLE Group Show in Kunsthalle Berlin, Germany
2015 MIX Group Show at Das Gift Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Artist Residencies and Workshops
2022 Artist Residency with With Company, Produção Industrial de Moda Em Malhas, Minde, Portugal
2019 Hand Tufting Workshop, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany
2017-2018 Natural Dyeing Workshop Series, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Germany
2014 Independent Textile Studies in India, Nepal, Thailand und Indonesia
