 Pavatex, 1979 Martin Disler selected works from the estate Martin Disler, born in 1949 in Switzerland (Seewen, Solothurn), found his way to art through his writing. In the 1970s, Disler researched on thematic and formal elements he shall work with during his entire artistic life. His work reflects an immense visual and intellectual understanding of art, literature and music. Works by artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, Jackson Pollock or Antonin Artaud, and many more, offered him a vide range of inspiration, giving him the possibility to define his own artistic expression. Disler lived and worked in Zurich, New York, Vienna, Paris, Harlingen (Holland), Milan, Engadin (Switzerland) and in Les Planchettes/Jura (Switzerland) until his premature death in 1996. Out of the earlier drawings, of a more graphic character, Disler developed a vocabulary of signs and forms he adapted in all his works -consciously and unconsciously- in a constantly new way. Small sculptures from 1996, for example, recall the forms of drawings made in the 1970's. The exhibition "Invasion durch eine falsche Sprache" at the Kunsthalle Basel in 1980 showed for the first time large-sized paintings, whose intensity attracted the international art scene's attention. These different aspects of Disler's work are currently shown in the exhibition at Elisabeth Kaufmann's: drawings, paintings and sculptures, dating from 1972 to 1996, testimony to the artist's much faceted oeuvre. One of Disler's main questions concerned the artist's role in the 20th century: what is his contribution to a mass-industrial culture and whether his work consisting in drawing, painting and sculpturing may have a persisting effect on the spectator. Disler's habit was to work with intensity and speed. This way of working and his obsession with the constant recreation of the human vision may be understood as his way to find an answer to these questions. Important exhibitions during the artist's lifetime were held in national and international Galleries and Museums, from 1976 until his death in 1996. To mention only a few: In 1980 Disler participated in "Aperto '80" (Biennale di Venezia) and in 1982 at documenta 7 in Kassel. In 1981 he executed the important mural painting "Die Umgebung der Liebe" at the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart. For 2006 two major retrospectives of Disler's work are in preparation. For more detailed information please visit the following website and database www.martin-disler.ch, conceptualised by SIK (Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft) in Zurich. Text: Chiara-Maria Argentini Ausstellungsdauer: 26.8. - 9.10.2004 Oeffnungszeiten: Di-Fr 14 - 18 Uhr, Sa 11 - 16 Uhr Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann Müllerstrasse 57 8004 Zürich Telefon/Fax 043 322 01 15 Email info@elisabethkaufmann.com www.elisabethkaufmann.com |
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