Adrian Schiess is one of the fundamental painters of his generation. His participation in Documenta, the Venice Biennale, and numerous solo exhibitions has made his work internationally renowned. His painting is not to be seen as a vertical surface on the wall, but as a work area that can be placed freely in the room, which deals with the appearance and disappearance of the phenomenon of painting. The exhibition at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen focuses on his central serial format, which consists of highly nuanced painting on horizontally arranged panels.
While in his early career he painted standard-sized panels by hand with a paintbrush, Schiess increasingly wiped out all traces of painterly craftsmanship and had his large-scale panels sprayed in refined colors and layers by the specialized car painter Pfenninger. Then subjects taken from photography appeared in screen printing on the painted panels, which vary greatly in materials and thickness. Densely covering the floor, painting will flood the museum’s unique exhibition halls and shine in the building’s natural light.
Curator: Roland Wäspe