Ohne Titel / Untitled (Ausschnitt / Detail), 2023
Tusche- und Farbstift auf Papier
Ink and coloured pen on paper
140 x 105 cm
Besitz des Künstlers / Collection of the artist
© Reto Bärtschi
Foto / Photo: Bernhard Strahm, Gerlafingen
Reto Bärtschi
To the Moon
23.09.2023 – 26.11.2023
In the Cabinet of the Museum Franz Gertsch, the Swiss artist Reto Bärtschi is showing new works created for the exhibition: small, medium and large-format drawings in black ink pen and overdrawn portrait photographs. His guardian figures are set up in the outdoor space.
Reto Bärtschi’s creations revolve around the human figure. Working with an array of media, such as drawing, painting, sculpture and other plastic arts, object and installation, and staged photography and video, he expresses his view on humans, his relationships, and his environment. The “guardian” figure is Bärtschi’s trademark and appears in many of his works.
In the Cabinet of the Museum Franz Gertsch the artist presents new works he produced for the exhibition, small-, medium-, and large-format black ink drawings and overdrawn portrait photographs. Under the title “Bis zum Mond (To the Moon)” the filigree drawings Bärtschi created with the aid of a magnifying glass reflect his view on the structure of human relationships. Vegetal and floral shapes as well as planetary constellations symbolise attraction and rejection, becoming acquainted and connecting. The overdrawn portrait photographs show people from Reto Bärtschi’s private and professional sphere. Reminiscent of the digital process of facial recognition, graphic and occasionally vegetal, organic motifs run across the half-shadowed faces.
The artist was born in Visp in 1971 and describes himself in hindsight as a creative and imaginative child; coming from a family of craftspeople (his father was a master painter), he initially did an apprenticeship as a bodywork tinsmith (a metalworker specialised on passenger cars and light-weight utility vehicles). Apprenticeships in the fields of agriculture and art agogics followed. Bärtschi spent his artistically most formative years as an assistant to the Swiss sculptor Jean Albert “Schang” Hutter (1934 – 2021) in Genoa and as a guest student and assistant at the Kunsthochschule Kassel with Norbert Radermacher (*1953). Scholarships and studio residencies in Cairo, New York, Tokyo, and other cities enabled him to deepen his knowledge of drawing and calligraphy.
The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle and Mathias Kobel in collaboration with the artist. An accompanying catalogue will be published by modo Verlag, Freiburg i.Br.
The exhibition and catalogue were generously supported by GVB Kulturstiftung, die mobiliar, Mäder_Gärten, Renata and Urs Baumann and other benefactors who do not wish to be named.
Reto Bärtschi’s creations revolve around the human figure. Working with an array of media, such as drawing, painting, sculpture and other plastic arts, object and installation, and staged photography and video, he expresses his view on humans, his relationships, and his environment. The “guardian” figure is Bärtschi’s trademark and appears in many of his works.
In the Cabinet of the Museum Franz Gertsch the artist presents new works he produced for the exhibition, small-, medium-, and large-format black ink drawings and overdrawn portrait photographs. Under the title “Bis zum Mond (To the Moon)” the filigree drawings Bärtschi created with the aid of a magnifying glass reflect his view on the structure of human relationships. Vegetal and floral shapes as well as planetary constellations symbolise attraction and rejection, becoming acquainted and connecting. The overdrawn portrait photographs show people from Reto Bärtschi’s private and professional sphere. Reminiscent of the digital process of facial recognition, graphic and occasionally vegetal, organic motifs run across the half-shadowed faces.
The artist was born in Visp in 1971 and describes himself in hindsight as a creative and imaginative child; coming from a family of craftspeople (his father was a master painter), he initially did an apprenticeship as a bodywork tinsmith (a metalworker specialised on passenger cars and light-weight utility vehicles). Apprenticeships in the fields of agriculture and art agogics followed. Bärtschi spent his artistically most formative years as an assistant to the Swiss sculptor Jean Albert “Schang” Hutter (1934 – 2021) in Genoa and as a guest student and assistant at the Kunsthochschule Kassel with Norbert Radermacher (*1953). Scholarships and studio residencies in Cairo, New York, Tokyo, and other cities enabled him to deepen his knowledge of drawing and calligraphy.
The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle and Mathias Kobel in collaboration with the artist. An accompanying catalogue will be published by modo Verlag, Freiburg i.Br.
The exhibition and catalogue were generously supported by GVB Kulturstiftung, die mobiliar, Mäder_Gärten, Renata and Urs Baumann and other benefactors who do not wish to be named.
Werke / Works
