BASEL.- Von Bartha announced representation of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Bernar Venet, and Claudia Wieser in Switzerland. Works by Solomon and Wieser feature in the gallery’s 50th anniversary group exhibition, The Backward Glance can be a Glimpse into the Future, on view until 7 November 2020. Von Bartha will present a solo exhibition of work by Venet at its Basel space, 21 November 2020 – 20 February 2021. Additionally, Venet will inaugurate von Bartha Insight, an off-site concept at the new Volkshaus Basel Hotel in the autumn.

Stefan von Bartha, Director said: "I am delighted to welcome these three diverse artists to our gallery during our 50th anniversary year. Barbara, or ‘Bobbie’ as she is widely known, is a real unexpected discovery and I had an instant love for her work. After seeing the fantastic documentary short film about her work and life created by Adobe, I immediately knew that I wanted to work with her. The connection with Basel and especially Armin Hofmann, who is also a former teacher of my parents, is wonderful. We are very excited to welcome Bernar back to the gallery and I can't wait to introduce new works to our audience as well as working with his historical material. I am a longtime admirer of Claudia Wieser‘s work and we are so pleased that she is joining the programme - her amazing solo show in S-chanf is the start of a great collaboration."




Nonagenarian Barbara Stauffacher Solomon is an American artist and graphic designer best known for her large scale interior ‘supergraphics’ and exterior signage at Sea Ranch, a private estate with a utopian vision in Sonoma County, California. After studying dance and painting as a teenager, Solomon moved to Switzerland in the 1950s where she was the first American at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, studying with acclaimed designer Armin Hofmann. The design she encountered there was modernist, and in 1962 she returned to the United States, bringing with her this approach to design and opening her own studio on Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Following that, she became involved with Sea Ranch, where she was responsible for the logo and branding as well as interiors. It was at Sea Ranch that she created ‘supergraphics’. Solomon earned a Masters degree in Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley in 1981, publishing her thesis, Green Architecture & The Agrarian Garden. She then became enamoured with book form, recognising it as a way of connecting across philosophy, semiotics, design, and art, without boundaries. She has published six books and is currently working on her seventh.

Bernar Venet is a French Conceptual artist who has worked in multiple media including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and musical composition. Venet gained recognition in the 1960s for his Goudron (Tar) paintings and his iconic sculpture Tas de Charbon (Pile of Coal). He soon developed formalist sculptures in the medium of steel, a material that would become central to his practice. Venet says that his sculptures are about "how the material resists. It is a test of strength—a battle between myself and the piece of metal". Venet has been the recipient of several distinguishing honors, including France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. His work has been exhibited at Documenta in 1977, and the Biennales of Paris, Venice and São Paulo. Venet’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.

Known for her work based on the principles of geometric abstraction, Claudia Wieser’s multimedia approach includes drawings, sculptures, wall installations and tapestries. Her practice explores the byways of art history and media, such as the transition of a utility object to a work of art; the border between art, architecture and design; and fields such as film and theatre. Wieser finds inspiration amongst a range of influences such as Modernism and the Bauhaus, in particular the work of artists such as Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, who explored the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, or ‘total work of art‘. Art and craftmanship intersect in her work, from hand-painted ceramics to gilded wooden vases, she explores the relationship between aesthetic and function, investigating the limits of shape, form and colour. Her solo exhibition, Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, is on view at von Bartha’s S-chanf gallery until 12 September 2020.