Tag: switzerland

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Pipilotti Rist (1957)… another great Suisse artist

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Today i realized that there have been so many great Suisse artist during the last 100 years and certainly Pipilotti Rist is one of them a deserves a small blog to draw attention to her works.

As a video and installation artist she has one element which returns in every one of her projects and it is the use of bright colors. The use of color makes them like 60’s halucinations.

During her studies Pipilotti Rist began making super 8 films. Her works generally last only a few minutes, and contained alterations in their colors, speed, and sound. Her works generally treat issues related to gender, sexuality, and the human body.

Her colorful and musical works transmit a sense of happiness and simplicity. Rist’s work is regarded as feminist by some art critics. Her works are held by many important art collections worldwide.

Because of the use of Video in most of het installations it is hard to find good publications on Rist, but there are some on the market and certainly one of them is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Johannes Gachnang (1939-2005)…quality publications

 

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The first time i met Gachnang was during an exibition at the Haags Gemeentemuseum when he visited his friend Rudi Fuchs , who was at that time the director of the Gemeentemuseum. I remembered an unpleasant person, but Rudi wanted the publications by Gachnang to be sold at the shop of the Gemeentemuseum and i was critical about them. It was not that i was not convinced of the art within these publications, but the art by Gachnang was so personal and i thought “strange” that i did not see any selling possibilities for them. Years later, i started to encounter his works in museums and found them far more accessible than i first had thought they were. ALL Gachnang publication have a certain quality and belong to the best publications on art in the last 3 decades of the 20th century and some of them are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Niele Toroni (1937)

Born in Switzerland in 1937, Niele Toroni rose to fame in an era that other Swiss artists were very much under the influence of constructivism…. Lohse and Honegger among them. Toroni left that stage behind him and developed a minimal style of his own. The main difference between these two and Toroni is that Toroni progressed his art into a form of MINIMAL ART in which he altered the space by painting with a regular space between them brushstrokes in squares onto a surface using one specific color. He usually uses one specific brush no 50. The imprints made with this n°50 paintbrush are repeated at regular intervals of 30 cm. His works are found in many modern art museum collections including the Stedelijk museum and the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. In which one of the 4 Staircases is painted by Toroni ( the others by LeWitt, Forg and Tuzina).

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These four staircases are there for over 25 years now and have proven to be very important In Situ works of art. All artist have become famous contemporary artists and really make one look at these staircases with different eyes. They are not ordinary staircases any longer , but works of art and part of a great collection.

Books on Toroni can be found at www.ftn-books.com

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Karl Gerstner (1930-2017) – Kalte Kunst?

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Karl Gerstner

One of the greatest book designers recently died. Karl Gerstner died on the 1st day of this New Year.

If there was one iconic Swiss book from the late Fifties it is probably Kalte Kunst?

Designed by Karl Gerstner, this book has become an example to many. Look at the early Wim Crouwel designs….influence Gerstner. Benno Wissing…influence Gerstner.

Karl Gerstner is a contemporary designer who’s work is strong and clean, but full of details. Typography and design melt together into a publication which is modern and classic. One of the first of these publications was Kalte Kunst? in which the most modern artist from the fifties were invited to make a contribution, which was placed within the publication. Special prints, silkscreens and litho’s were bound in Kalte Kunst?

“Kalte Kunst?” (1957, 2 editions, both 1000 copies) was Gerstner’s first authored book where he advocates for a specific form of rational, geometric and mathematical art with examples from Josef Albers, Max Bill, Camille Graeser, Richard P. Lohse, Gerard Ifert, Mary Vieira and Marcel Wyss.

a great biography on gerstner can be found here:http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-international-typographic-style/256-karl-gerstner

A true classic and one of the only copies on the market at this time available at www.ftn-books.com together with some other Gerstner publications.

Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalee Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst
Kalte Kunst

 

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On the road to Germany, Switzerland and Austria there is some great architecture. Botta, Gehry and Piano

Ok,  it is a little detour but worth to make it. Traveling to Basel it isn’t a detour because it is next to Basel , where also The Beyeler Museum by Renzo Piano can be found and the Tinguely Museum is also not to be missed. It is one of the earlier Gehry buildings which is realized in Weil Am Rhein for the VITRA corporation. Visit it and certainly visit the restoring facility for “classic” Eames chairs in the recently realized new building and enjoy them both. Continue your architectural journey to one of the best museums in Europe…the Beyeler Museum ( architecture by Renzo PIano ) and continue with a visit to the Tinguely Museum ( by Mario Botta), spend one night in southern Germany, enjoy a Wiener Schnitzel and then continue via Munchen to Vienna and enjoy this city with its great buildings and impressive collections. When you walk through this city, at one time you will certainly encounter the Osterreichische POSTSPARKASSE building ….the entrance door looks closed, but enter it and see one of the most beautiful art deco buildings i ever visited.