Type : invite

Kirill Savalev

Artist staitment The subject of my photographs, texts, and videos is the everyday existence of animals, things, and people, as well as the moments when relationships between them emerge. My practice is predominantly intuitive. Even when there is a precise plan for a project, success more often occurs in the ruins left by the collision of that plan with reality. For me, making art is a kind of «rummaging in the dark,» in the unknown. This rummaging allows for a momentary illumination of the darkness. It is impossible to see the entire territory, but one can infer it by remembering the brief glimpses through the «slits» one has made and mentally connecting them. This applies both to the experience of working with photography (which is why flash is often present in the images) and to working with text. In the case of text, it is like photographing the thoughts in one’s head.

Simon Wyss

In 2024 I started painting stones. For me, painting a stone means giving up before I’ve even started. A closer look at a single stone reveals countless colors, contrasts, shapes and facets. This motif, which always remains incomplete, and the continual approach towards it, are reflected in my painting process. Some of the depicted stones are imitated from nature, others are imaginary. In the paintings, I place several of them next to each other or one behind the other on a background that looks like a star or an explosion and is partially or completely obliterated by the stones. Despite the power of the stones, they cannot escape the influence of the background. The stones themselves are painted with glazes – in some places opaque, in others transparent, whereby the light from the underlying layers helps to determine their appearance on the stones. How and where they are placed in the composition, what shapes and colors they have and how much they shield from what is behind them is decided by an associative or intuitive approach directly while painting on the canvas. This results in a continuous series of paintings. The starting point for these works is a small castle ruin north of Zurich, which I have visited several times. About 1000 years ago, many stones were built into a large one for protection and after its use, this large stone fell apart again into many smaller ones. Construction and destruction, transience and usefulness come together in this place.

Mario Castellanos

Mario Castellanos ist ein Künstler und Bildhauer, dessen Werk an der Schnittstelle von organischem und symbolischem Ausdruck liegt. Er untersucht die Spannungen zwischen Materie und Leere und entwickelt eine klare, eigenständige Bildsprache ausschließlich aus Metall. Dabei verbindet er handwerkliche Techniken mit industriellen Prozessen, um Werke zu schaffen, die innere Landschaften, fragmentierte Körper und traumartige Strukturen evoziieren.  Im Verlauf seiner Karriere war Castellanos in zahlreichen nationalen und internationalen Ausstellungen präsent. 2015 nahm er am britisch-mexikanischen Kulturprogramm „Año Dual“ teil, und 2016 zeigte er eine Einzelausstellung in London mit Unterstützung der mexikanischen Botschaft. Seine Arbeiten wurden zudem in wichtigen Galerien und kulturellen Institutionen in Mexiko-Stadt und Oaxaca gezeigt, wodurch er sich als eine markante Stimme der zeitgenössischen Skulptur in Mexiko etablierte.  Neben der Galerietätigkeit entwickelt Castellanos großformatige Installationen für Musik- und Kunstfestivals, die immersive Erlebnisse zwischen Skulptur, Rauminstallation und Performance schaffen. Seine Arbeiten verbinden visuelle Kunst, Klang und Körperlichkeit, wodurch der Betrachter in sensorische Erfahrungsräume eintaucht.  Derzeit lebt und arbeitet Mario Castellanos in Oaxaca, Mexiko, wo er kontinuierlich neue Werke entwickelt, die Form, Materialität und Bedeutung hinterfragen und den Dialog zwischen Skulptur, Raum und sinnlicher Wahrnehmung erweitern.