Tobias Vetter – “Forgotten Promises”
Solo Exhibition at HVW8 Gallery Berlin
Opening Reception: September 10, 2026, 7–10 PM
Exhibition Dates: September 10 – October 1, 2026
HVW8 Gallery Berlin, Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin-Mitte
HVW8 Gallery Berlin is pleased to present “Forgotten Promises,” a solo exhibition by Tobias Vetter. In this new body of work, the artist gives form to emotions that have remained unnamed: promises fading from memory, hopes left unfulfilled or long since broken, the illusion of freedom, and the enduring belief that things will get better.
Vetter’s protagonists appear dreamlike and remote, suspended in a state of waiting. Their emotions resist easy interpretation, hovering somewhere between longing and resignation. Moving between figuration and abstraction, dream and wakefulness, Vetter creates monumental figures in which vulnerability and strength coexist.
Through the repeated overpainting of multiple layers, the process of forgetting becomes visible within the works themselves. The paintings occupy an in-between space, recalling the fleeting state just after waking, when dream and reality still overlap. Yet there is one crucial difference: these images do not fade. They remain – quiet portraits of what was once promised and of what endures.
About the Artist
Tobias Vetter (b. 1985 in the Allgäu region of southern Germany) has lived in Berlin since 2010. He initially worked as a tattoo artist before establishing an independent studio practice spanning oil painting, Jacquard tapestries, and sculpture in marble and limestone. His work has been exhibited alongside artists including Alicja Kwade, Jonathan Meese, and Stefan Rinck, with presentations in New York and Los Angeles as well
as at Art Karlsruhe and during Berlin Art Week.
Raised amid conventions and clearly defined social roles in the Allgäu region of southern Germany, Vetter found an early sense of freedom in the vastness of the Alps. From the tension between belonging and independence, strength and vulnerability, emerged a path beyond familiar structures – an ongoing movement between tradition and inner autonomy that continues to shape his practice.
In Berlin, Vetter found space for both individuality and anonymity. His work moves between figuration and abstraction, dream and wakefulness, culminating in monumental figures that hold vulnerability and resilience in balance and transform personal experience into something archetypal.
About HVW8 Gallery Berlin
HVW8 is an art + design gallery based in Berlin-Mitte. The gallery has maintained a presence in the German capital since 2014, following more than a decade of gallery activity in Los Angeles. Its program focuses on contemporary art, with a particular affinity for avant-garde graphic design and an international network of artists working across disciplines.
Press Information
Exhibition: Tobias Vetter – “Forgotten Promises”
Location: HVW8 Gallery Berlin, Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Opening Reception: September 10, 2026, 7–10 PM
Exhibition Dates: September 10 – October 1, 2026
Opening Hours: Wed-Sat, 2-7pm
Press Contact
MARCUS LUDWIG-PFAENDER
HVW8 Gallery Berlin
Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin
marcus@hvw8.com
press images are available upon request.
