Stefan Rüesch: Swiss landscape pixels

When you look at Stefan Rüesch’s quiet Swiss landscapes, you feel slightly puzzled by the small squares shaping the picture. Is it hand painted, is it stencils, is it made out of legos and later edited on the computer? How is this image made?

Stylistically minimal, with geometric and asymmetric components. His works are providers of an another world. An old school, digital world, that is very organised and representing greatly the Swiss minimal and precise spirit, as well as the crispy landscapes, with its mountains and valleys.

Born in Luzern, Rüesch later moved to the West Coast; Los Angeles and Santa Monica, where he developed his artistic practice further. In the late eighties he decided to return to his Swiss roots, where he currently lives and works in Chur. He is a self taught genius that proves that craftsmanship is still a key player in the arts, as he requires around 4 weeks to produce a piece in his pixel-ed style. He gesso-es the canvas, creates the shapes he wants with tape leaving them exposed and then paints each shape, layer by layer, waiting it to dry in order to continue, very similar to street art and stencils.

What I love about Rüeschs’s work is the tribute to the classic landscape theme found in painting, but altered and adjusted to our contemporary rhythms. Slightly romantic and ideal, his works are always exciting and endlessly beating to our contemporary heart beat rhythm. Looking at them, you awe at the stillness and beauty of the landscapes, while thinking of the continuous computer developments in our digital era.

While in Zurich, you can see the paintings in flesh at the Vertes Modern gallery.

 

Stefan Rüesch Elusive

Stefan Rüesch Elusive Lichtzauber

Stefan Rüesch Elusive Frühling

Stefan Rüesch Elusive Frühling1

Stefan Rüesch Elusive Vollmond

Stefan Rüesch Elusive Vollmond1

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.