Tobias Thaens (b. 1999, NL) is a painter who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the AKI Academy for Art & Design, Enschede, the Netherlands, in 2021, completed his residency at DeAteliers, Amsterdam, in 2023 and received the Royal Award for Modern Painting in 2024. Thaens’ paintings explore the mode of attention that is present just before something is recognised. In his work, shapes soften and merge, suggesting that things are rarely fixed or singular. His images move between clarity and ambiguity, reflecting an interest in how forms appear, dissolve, and reappear.

The underlying movement of change, a shared visual grammar and an ever-surprising articulation of colour and rhythm present in nature is a big inspiration for Thaens.

Thaens looks at how surfaces are constructed and perceived. His work often evokes an androgynous, fluid world in which bodies and environments subtly change their skin, pattern, or tone. Mimicking the way in which the surroundings and desires of organisms contribute to their scales or plumage, Thaens allows his own world to seep into the paintings. Overlaying the personal, the linguistic and the biological is a core theme in the works. By focusing on these small shifts and layered surfaces, Thaens invites viewers to look longer and perhaps reconsider what they think they see.

In October 2024, Thaens was awarded the Royal Award for Modern Painting 2024, by his Majesty the King of The Netherlands. Recent exhibitions include: BROWNIE PROJECT GALLERY, Shanghai, CN, 2026; A scallop has two hundred eyes, twelve paintings on what they might see, No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL, 2024, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL, 2025; Zona Maco, Mexico City, MX, 2025; Project Native Informant, London, UK, 2024; Ballroom Project #6, Antwerp, BE, 2024; Rupture, Gerard Hofland, Amsterdam, NL, 2024; Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, Amsterdam, NL, 2023; Raamvertelling, De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL, 2023.