Kunstmuseum St Gallen

ADRIAN SCHIESS
Painting 1980 - 2020
29 August 2020 – 7 Februar 2021, Kunstmuseum

Curator: Roland Wäspe

Adrian Schiess, born in Zurich in 1959, 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.

For the exhibition, Edition Cantz will publish a comprehensive anthology of the paintings created in connection with architectural projects. This central part of his oeuvre will thus be made visible in its entirety for the first time. The volume was created in close collaboration with Ulrich Loock and will also include a wide-ranging interview with Adrian Schiess.