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