MARCdePUECHREDON - Edward Cutler Gallery

Hans Op de Beeck, Staging Silence, 2012, (Set Photo), 102 x 73cm,
Courtesy of the artist, and Gallleria Continua.
SCHNEEWEISS
17 November 2013 – 28 January 2014
“Un rideau de flocons blancs ininterrompu miroitait sans cesse en descendant vers la terre;
il effaçait les formes, poudrait les choses d'une mousse de glace; et l'on n'entendait plus,
dans le grand silence de la ville calme et ensevelie sous l'hiver, que ce froissement vague,
innommable et flottant de la neige qui tombe, plutôt sensation que bruit , entremêlement
d'atomes légers qui semblaient emplir l'espace, couvrir le monde.”
Guy de Maupassant, Boule de Suif
Marc de Puechredon is delighted to celebrate the onset of the European winter with the inauguration of
Schneeweiss, a group exhibition with works by Marischa Burckhardt, Christine Fausten, Rudolf de Crignis,
Huger Foote, Andy Goldsworthy, Nicole Herzog Verrey, Hans Op de Beeck, Ed Ruscha, Manuela Sedmach,
John Stark, Not Vital and Uwe Walther. The exhibition brings together a group of artists working in diverse
media, and presents their own personal response to snow, itʼs dramatic effect on the landscapes around us. For
some artists, it is the inspiration of „Schneeweiss“ as an idea. The show opens on Saturday 16th November,
and will run through to the end of January 2014.
The decision to host an exhibition called Schneeweiss (White Snow - not to to be confused with Snow White), is
both relevant and pertinent in many ways. Taking Switzerland as a microcosm of the world, It is hard to overestimate the importance of snow, economically, psychologically and ecologically. As Andy Goldsworthy said
“snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood” and for the millions of people living in the more
temperate regions of the planet, the seasonal appearance and disappearance of snow is both fundamentally
familiar and comforting, and vital to our existence.
In terms of area, snow cover is the largest single component of the cryosphere, covering an average of about 46
million square kilometers (about 17.8 million square miles) of Earth's surface each year. About 98 percent of the
Earth's snow cover is located in the Northern Hemisphere. While the artists in the exhibition have reflected on
the visual effects of snow in different ways, their combined approaches nearly always add up to a singular
emotional, almost fragile appreciation for this most startling of all landscape effects.
MARCdePUECHREDON
St. Johanns-Vorstadt 78
CH-4056 Basel T +41 683 14 70 [email protected]
The expanse of a predominantly white colour-field will in everyone but those who have never witnessed it first
hand, conjure up tactile memories that are clearly set apart from other sensory recollections.
Generally, snow and ice present us with a uniformly white appearance. This is because visible light is white and
nearly all of the visible light striking the snow or ice surface is reflected back without any particular preference
for a single colour. On approaching the subject, this affords artists a limited monochrome palette to work with,
both restricting and consequentially concentrating their focus for detail within the subject - indeed this a common
trait of many the works on display here. After which, any colour appearing outside that black and white spectrum
appears at once electric, abstract, or other-dimensional.
On such a large scale, snow cover helps regulate the exchange of heat between Earth's surface and the
atmosphere, or the Earth's energy balance. While the intention for organising this exhibition was at first entirely
aesthetic, for the simple pleasure of revisiting the snow artistically, the current state of fear for the planet's
climate very quickly re-coordinates our focus to reflect the clear implications now inherent in snow as a topic.
With the temperate mountain ranges, like those located in western North America, New Zealand, and the
European Alps, already experiencing winter temperatures that are only slightly below freezing, even small
increases in air temperature will ultimately shorten the winter snow season. The relentless retreat of the ice
which inevitably accompanies snow means we now have an unmistakably powerful visual marker for the shifting
climactic conditions now becoming apparent. The seemingly impenetrable expanse of dense white mass belies
actually the most delicate and fleeting of nearly all substances; something to which the artists here all pay
sincere homage.
This exhibition has been co-curated by Edward Cutler and announces his arrival as artistic director for Marc de
Puechredonʼs galleries in Basel and Zurich. Edward has already been working with the gallery for a few years,
out of Milan und under his own name (www.edwardcutler.com). From the end of 2013, Edward will be
coordinating all future exhibitions in Marc de Puechredonʼs Swiss galleries, combining his acknowledged eye
for emerging talent, with the continued curation of the established artists already working with the
gallery.
With
Marischa Burckhardt
Rudolf de Crignis
Christine Fausten
Huger Foote
Andy Goldsworthy
Nicole Herzog Verrey
Hans Op de Beeck
Ed Ruscha
Manuela Sedmach
John Stark
Not Vital
Uwe Walther
Preview
Saturday, 16 November 2013, 14:00 – 18:00
Duration
17 November 2013 – 28 January 2013
Opening hours
Thursday – Friday, 14:00 –18:30
, Saturday 10:00 – 15:00