Works on Paper

Large-format watercolours and fine pencil drawings by Zurich artist Marcel Gähler (born 1969) dating from 2000 to 2010.

The museum’s series of exhibitions of contemporary art is continued in the cabinet with the first museum presentation of works by the Zurich artist Marcel Gähler (born 1969).

The Winterthur-based painter and draughtsman presents large-format watercolors and fine pencil drawings made between 2000 and 2010. These works on paper depict his immediate environment. The artist photographs details of inhospitable landscapes in the city or on its outskirts during his afternoon and evening walks or bicycle rides which he then executes in a time-consuming process as watercolor paintings or drawings.

Aside from such portrayals of nature in which the realistic implementation transports a surreal atmosphere, people are playing an increasingly important role in his most recent works: family members, friends, and acquaintances have become the motifs. The most recent small-format pencil drawings depict scenes that recall snapshots from a family photo album. Transferred from the media of photography to the smaller, more concentrated drawing, they seem strange and yet somehow familiar, as is the case with the nocturnal landscape scenes from the series of drawing from previous years.

The exhibition has been curated by Anna Wesle in collaboration with the artist.

See the artist's website: www.marcelgaehler.ch