One of the best artists from Switzerland has to be Markus Raetz (Bern Switzerland 1941-2020). Language is one of three parameters in the art in his repertoir. In Geneva, the sculpture OUI NON amazes passers by if they dare to look up at the Place du Rhône! Read our article from 2020 at this link. Markus Raetz works on the real and unreal of the negative/positive and the perception and the deformation on shapes in a mirror or facing each other. He invites the viewer to interact, because many works by the artist reveal themselves only by the movement of the viewer in front of the sculpture.
As the Fondation Jan Michalski in Vaud is hosting a wonderful exhibition around Markus Raetz through 10 July this year, this is the time to visit this wonderful museum/library/architecture. A pair of entrance tickets is up for grabs in our competition (below).
Markus Raetz's works with sizing up words and letters, pushing them further, exploring their interconnections within several languages, and embodying them in eloquent visual forms – eloquent, too, in the etymological sense of “speaking out.” In this brilliant artist’s output, language is a singular source of inspiration as well as matter for an inventiveness that is bound up with both its translation into images and Raetz’s craftsmanship, the other two elements are at the core of his body of work.
Raetz’s reflection on words and language generally is both playful and systematic, deep and done with a twinkle in the artist’s eye, personal and implying the participation of others. As the viewer looks on, one and the same stationary object embodies a no and a yes; seen from the left and the right (see poster below), a little brass object collectively exclaims AHA; the ich (I) at the head of a body floating in space is transformed into a wir (we) at the other end. This message counts in the artist’s thinking. He emphasizes exchange and sharing. Time to fire up our imagination! “One’s own movement is important. I give the viewer responsibility – or free play, room to manoeuver. I want to give them certainty, like a fine instrument,” the artist once declared.
