ZURICH.- Galerie Peter Kilchmann presents Beyond Visible Reality, a group exhibition bringing together thirteen artistic positions that explore the space between dream and reality, abstraction and figuration. Contemporary painting today occupies a fascinating field of tension. While the photographic reproduction of reality has long since been taken over by digital media, many artists are searching for other forms of experiencing and depicting the world. Their paintings depict people, landscapes, and objects that remain recognisable, yet elude an objective representation of reality. They are neither classical Surrealist works nor realistic depictions of the world. Rather, these works inhabit an in-between space in which memory, dreams, imagination, personal experience, and psychological states merge into new pictorial realities. Reality is not reproduced, but transformed. The exhibition demonstrates the diverse ways in which artists continue to respond to questions of reality, imagination, and inner experience. Between surreal-looking imagery, poetic landscapes, psychological portraits, and abstract compositions, the exhibition opens up a multifaceted dialogue on the possibilities of contemporary painting. At the same time, the exhibition Walter Grab (1927–1989) – Zurich Surrealist will be on view at the gallery.
The exhibition demonstrates the diverse ways in which artists continue to engage with questions of reality, imagination, and inner experience. Between surreal imagery, poetic landscapes, psychological portraits, and abstract compositions, a multifaceted dialogue unfolds around the possibilities of contemporary painting. Beyond Visible Reality brings together works that do not depict the world as it is, but as it can be remembered, felt, dreamed, and imagined.
Works by: Hernan Bas, Andriu Deplazes, Valrie Favre, Adrian Ghenie, Chris Huen, Leiko Ikemura, Per Kirkeby, Diego Kohli, Eva Nielsen, Meret Oppenheim, Patrick Salutt, Tobias Spichtig, Christine Streuli
With Walter Grab (1927–1989) – Zurich Surrealist, Galerie Peter Kilchmann presents its first exhibition dedicated to one of the most remarkable yet relatively little-known representatives of Swiss Surrealism. The solo presentation constitutes a deliberate contribution to establishing the position of an artist whose work occupies a distinctive and significant place within the history of Swiss art, yet has remained largely unknown, particularly beyond Switzerland, to this day.
Over the course of several decades, Walter Grab developed a body of work characterised by poetic imagery, enigmatic symbolism, and a distinctive interplay between reality and imagination. His paintings draw viewers into pictorial worlds in which dreams, memory, and fantasy merge into a personal artistic language. In doing so, Grab developed an independent approach to Surrealism that emancipated itself from its major international precedents and gave rise to a distinctive artistic voice. The exhibition brings together around 30 paintings dating from the 1950s through the 1980s, providing a comprehensive insight into the artist’s practice over more than three decades. Most of the works on view are held in Swiss private collections and are only occasionally accessible to the public. The exhibition thus offers a rare opportunity to discover a significant part of Walter Grab’s oeuvre in a focused presentation.
With Walter Grab (1927–1989) – Zurich Surrealist, our aim is to provide a renewed platform for an important yet now insufficiently recognised voice within Swiss Surrealism and to bring his work to a wider audience. At a time when questions of subjective perception, dreams, memory, and alternative realities are once again gaining prominence in contemporary art, Walter Grab’s practice appears remarkably relevant.
In 2022, a comprehensive catalogue of works was published, featuring texts by Julia Schallberger, Christoph Kappeler and Andr Grab (ed.), Walter Grab (1927–1989). The catalogue was published by Edition Patrick Frey.
