This first monograph highlights the diversity and span of
Adrian Schiess' work.
Since Adrian Schiess' exhibition in 1993 at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, his work has been very much in the spotlight in France. Yet, until now, there existed no monograph devoted to his work. The text here – at once an analysis and an essay – by Denys Zacharopoulos is on a par with Adrian Schiess's work, addressing the essential questions raised by the artist. The scope of Adrian Schiess' work is brought to light through the intransigence of both the artist's and the author's personal and critical positions with respect to painting and art. In exploring the work, Denys Zacharopoulos' approach is at once plastic and painterly, almost analytical and yet historical, sifting through the social, economic, political and philosophical aspects implied by the work's poetics; attentive to various fields of influence and the singular junctions of creation, the author has adopted a deeply committed approach, never seeking to conceal his admiration for the artist nor his love of the work. The carefully maintained dispersion characteristic of Adrian Schiess's work and the fragmentary, aphoristic writing of Denys Zacharopoulos come together in the pages of the book, where image and text, meaning and thought shift and gain intensity with the volatility of the arguments and the writing style. Subtle mood shifts reinforce the continuity of the author's argument, whereas the varying scansion of experience underscores its theoretical consistency. The pictorial work's self-evidence takes form as the discourse folds and unfolds over the seven chapters of this genuine reflection on painting today.
Born 1959 in Zürich,
Adrian Schiess lives and works in the Swiss Jura.
Denys Zacharopoulos is historian, art critic, curator and writer.
