Thierry Feuz
(Switzerland, b. 1968
)

Graduated from Geneva University of Art and Design (Haute École d'Art et de Design), Feuz currently lives and works in Geneva. In his artistic realm, art, science, and philosophy converge as he explores the universal meaning of "existence" and presents unseen realms through his unique painting techniques. Thierry Feuz's works have been collected by significant institutions and museums, including Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Neuchâtel, Singapore Art Foundation, UBS Bank, Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States, as well as the Breeze Crop. and E.Sun Commercial Bank, among other corporate collections.

Thierry Feuz’s second solo show “Neo-Baroque” with Bluerider ART presents several series of recent works. The paintings and objects by Thierry Feuz are a neo-baroque journey in times of post-modern enlightenment. It is neo-baroque because the works are full of opulence, movement, and emotions; it is a journey because the associated themes circle from the universe with stars and galaxies to life-size flowers and zoomed blossoms to micro-cosmoses and nano-worlds.

The perfect and balanced compositions, the thrilling and audacious colour combinations, the use of strong and pure paints, the clarity and cleanness of the structures, the elaborated design of the single painted elements, and the lack of classical perspective, the depth of focus by means of the blurring of some depicted elements are inherent parts of all works. Placing concrete objects between the real and the imagined is precisely what Feuz excels in. Feuz's creative elements combined the delicate still life paintings of Spain's Baroque period, the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock, the surrealism of Joan Miró, and Cy Twombly's classical mythology. Such expression of realms echoes a sort of his radical experiments in which fluid media materials are used, he is able to continue to expand and explore the possibilities of painting.

For the solo exhibition “Neo-Baroque” in Shanghai and Taipei, Thierry Feuz has developed an impressive and rich bunch of series of paintings. The paintings of the representative series “Silent Winds” were inspired by the artist’s childhood memories of lying in the countryside with his grandfather when he was a child. The works “Psychotropical” represent maybe a closer look on vegetation such as a small group of plants or a bouquet of flowers. They express the crazy, the excessive, the uncontrolled and the inconceivable during the flush after having taken hallucinogenic drugs. The “Supernatural” are probably close-ups of particular blossoms and the representation of an artificial world. The “Instant Karma” shows the meaning of reincarnation in the present and eternity. The “Rain Garden” series cleverly uses the spray techniques and the principle of fluid paint repulsion to give the flowers a sense of transparency. The latest series of works, “Hyperboreal”, integrates the burst of colour and light, showing a powerful life and even wilder.

Under the superlative sensuality and appealing appearance, there exists fragility. Feuz's work easily spans the boundaries of culture and abstraction. These calyces and microbes spread outwards in a space without boundaries. Here, astounding beauty and fragility coexist, with the implied suggestion that such a beautiful balance can disappear in an instant. Through fabricated scenery, rich colours, and the rhythm of life, Thierry Feuz explores life and explores the meaning of human existence through his works, in the absence of boundaries.


Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021 Neo Baroque , Bluerider Art, Taipei, Taiwan (TW)
2021 A kind of Eden , Rasson Contemporain, Tournai & Knokke (BE)
2020 Substrat , CdAC – Club d’Art Contemporain, Lausanne (CH)
2020 Golden Atlas Rasson Contemporain, Knokke (BE)
2019 Instant Karma, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
2018 Geometry of Miracles, Leonhard’s Gallery, Antwerp
2018 Silent Winds, Bluerider ART, Taipei, Taiwan
2018 Full Bloom, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk
2017 Thierry Feuz, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
2017 Supernatural, Rasson Art Gallery, Tournai
2017 Rausch, Galerie Zetter bei der Albertina, Albertina ,Wien
2016 Thierry Feuz, Galerie Lange + Pult, Auvernier
2016 Recent paintings, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
2015 A Cosmology of Nature, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk
2014 Thierry Feuz, Johyun Gallery, Seoul
2014 Xanadu, Galerie Lange + Pult, Auvernier
2014 Thierry Feuz, Gerhard Braun Gallery, Palma de Mallorca
2014 Natural High, Downtown Gallery, Busan
2014 Volta NY, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, New York
2013 Cosmic Dust, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
2013 Thierry Feuz, Schaulager, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
2013 Babylone, Rasson Art Gallery, Tournai
2013 Atlas, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
2012 Silent Winds, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk
2012 Motifs et reliefs de la couleur, (with Ien Lucas) Galerie La Ferronnerie, Paris
2012 Thierry Feuz – Neue Bilder, Galerie Siegel Springmann, Freiburg im Breisgau
2011 Thierry Feuz – Paintings & Sculptures, Galerie Lange + Pult, Zürich
2011 Thierry Feuz – Paintings, Hyun Gallery, Changwon
2011 Thierry Feuz – Paintings and Sculptures, Johyun Gallery, Seoul
2011 Thierry Feuz, Johyun Gallery, Busan
2011 Farbraum I, Schaulager Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
Substrat, Galerie Une, Auvernier
2010 Beyond the hurricane, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen
2010 Thierry Feuz, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
2010 Feuz – Rembold,(with Marc Rembold), Jacana Gallery, Vancouver
2010 Flowers, (with Crystel Ceresa), Galerie Laleh June, Basel
2009 Neue Arbeiten – Thierry Feuz, Schaulager Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
2009 Into the Wild, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk
2009 Monsoon, Samuel Freeman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2009 Microworlds and Macrovisions, Carbon 12 Gallery, Dubai
2008 Thierry Feuz – Recent Work, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, FL
2008 Thierry Feuz, Galerie Une, Auvernier
2008 Rausch, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch
2008 Second Nature, Jacana Gallery, Vancouver
2008 Pushing Daisies, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen
2008 Radiant Days, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk
2007 El Dorado, LIMN Gallery, San Fransisco
2007 Thierry Feuz – Second Nature, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, FL
2007 Oasis, Jacana Gallery, Vancouver
2007 Mirages, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Zürich
2006 Everglades – Recent paintings, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York
2006 Psychotropical, Galerie Jérôme Ladiray, Rouen
2006 Equateur, Galerie Une, Auvernier
2006 Thierry Feuz – Supernatural, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
2005 Gulfstream, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York
2005 Closer than paradise, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Zürich
2004 Thierry Feuz, Galerie Une, Auvernier
2003 Thierry Feuz – Psychotropical, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York
2003 Psychotropical, Galerie Une, Neuchâtel
2001 Hyper Naturel, Galerie Une, Neuchâtel

Selected Collective Exhibitions

2021 « Neuheiten im Frühling », Galerie bei der Albertina, Wien (AT)
2020 Xmas20 , Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2020 Equinokks , Rasson Contemporain, Knokke (BE)
2020 S.P.R.A.Y. Fondation WRP, Genève, (CH)
2020 Collection , Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel (CH)
2020 Sundown , Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
2020 Summer20 , Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2020 Modern , Galerie bei der Albertina, Wien (AT)
2019 Driving Forces : Contemporary Art from Pizzuti Collection », Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus,OH (US)
2019 Next , Bluerider Art, Taipei, Taiwan (TW)
2019 Xmas19 , Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2019 Neuheiten im Frühling », Galerie bei der Albertina, Wien (AT)
2019 Spectrum , Leonhard’s Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
2018 Kunstkammer, Quartier Général, La Chaux-de-Fonds (CH)
2018 Collection D.R. Brollier, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Saint Louis (FR)
2018 Elixir, (avec Crystel Ceresa), Galerie Au Virage, Séprais, Jura (CH)
2017 Thierry Feuz & Richard Müller, Galerie Mera, Schaffhausen (CH)
2017 My art goes Boum,Villa Dutoit, Genève (CH)
2017 Utopic Park, Fonderie Kugler, Genève (CH)
2017 N.O.E.L, Club d’art Contemporain, Lausanne (CH)
2017 Xmas17, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2017 Kunst auf Papier, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2017 Chaos & Order, Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux (CH)
2017 Neuheiten im Herbst, Galerie Zetter bei der Albertina, Wien (AT)
2017 Ouverture, Club d’art Contemporain, Lausanne (CH)
2016 SPRAY, Opéra Gallery, Genève (CH)
2016 Xmas16, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2016 Summer never ends, Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux (CH)
2016 Aux sources de l’inspiration, Fondation Arnaud, Lens (CH)
2016 Un certain regard, Galerie Varenne, Genève (CH)
2016 Crystel Ceresa & Thierry Feuz, Galerie Artvera’s, Genève (CH)
2015 Un regard sur la collection, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel (CH)
2015 Xmas15, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2015 Outremer, Fonderie, Usine Kugler, Genève (CH)
2015 Plastic Days, Museo Fico, Torino (IT)
2015 Farbenwahnsinn, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2015 Take me to the sun, Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux (CH)
2015 Opposition des paradigmes, Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux (CH)
2015 Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2015 Show Chaud, Galerie Lange + Pult, Auvernier (CH)
2015 Map of the New Art, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia (IT)
2014 Neugierig, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2014 Paintings & Sculptures, Galerie Lange + Pult, Zürich (CH)
2014 Neuheiten im Frühling, Galerie an der Albertina, Wien (AT)
2014 Summertime’14″, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2014 Psychotropical – New Paintings, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
2014 Utopie Picturale 2, Fonderie Kugler, Genève (CH)
2014 S.P.R.A.Y. – painting now, Galerie Laurent Marthaler, Montreux (CH)
2014 S.P.R.A.Y, Galerie Artvera’s, Geneva (CH)
2014 Farbkörper – Bildobjekte, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2013 Hotchpotch, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2013 7 chez Varenne, Galerie Daniel Varenne, Genève (CH)
2013 Flowers, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
2013 La beauté sauvera le monde (du Greco à Richter), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tournai (BE)
2013 Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery, Palm Desert, CA (US)
2013 Kunststücke 2013, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2013 Frühling übt sich, Galerie Mera, Schaffhausen (CH)
2013 Utopie picturale, Villa Dutoit, Genève (CH)
2012 Iles au trésor, Galerie La Ferronnerie, Paris (FR)
2012 Yet Projects, Yet Projects, Genève (CH)
2012 Xmas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2012 Cosmotopia, BAC, Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Genève (CH)
2012 Gallery Collection, Johyun Gallery, Busan (KR)
2012 Summer special exhibition, Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto (CA)
2012 Les annales de la Galerie Une, Galerie Une, Auvernier (CH)
2012 Summer show, Johyun Gallery, Seoul (KR)
2012 Rasson Art Gallery, Tournai (BE)
2012 Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen (DK)
2012 Galerie Pierrick Touchefeu, Sceaux (FR)
Thierry Feuz – Günther Holder – Willi Kopf, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2011 Xmas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2011 Little Absurdities, -TINA B. – The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Prague (CZ)
2011 Résonnances – Dissonnances, Villa Dutoit, Genève (CH)
Murs Exquis, Art en Ile, Genève (CH)
2011 Group show, Galerie Pierrick Touchefeu, Sceaux (FR)
2011 A celebration of Colors, Jacana Gallery, Vancouver (CA)
2011 Farbkörper, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2010 Xmas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2010 Papier, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2010 Summer show, Joyhun Gallery, Seoul (KR)
2010 Dessins à perte de vue, Halle Nord, Geneva (CH)
2010 Etienne Gallery, Osterwijk (NL)
2009 Galerie Jérôme Ladiray, Rouen (FR)
2009 WALL – TABLE – CHAIR, Galerie Kenworthy-Ball, Lange + Pult, Zürich (CH)
2009 Best of Lausberg Contemporary, Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto (CA)
2009 Aquisitions 2008-2009 – La collection de la Poste suisse, PROGR, Bern (CH)
2009 Lost Paradise, Espace Cheminée Nord, Genève (CH)
2009 Summer abstractions, LIMN Gallery, San Francisco (US)
2009 Kunst – Stücke, Galerie Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2009 Floating details, La Pinacotèque, Genève (CH)
2009 Donation Jeunet – Aquisition 2003-2009, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel (CH)
2009 Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen (DK)
Flower Power, Centro Ricerca Arte Attuale Villa Guilia, Verbania (IT)
2009 MIX, Jacana Contemporary Art, Vancouver (CA)
2008 Sneak preview, Carbon12 Gallery, Dubai (AE)
2008 All colors in mind, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, Florida (US)
2008 Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen (DK)
2008 Schaulager – Lagerschau, Galerie Guenter Feurstein, Feldkirch (AT)
2008 Botanical transforms, Vejle Kunstmuseum, Vejle (DK)
2008 Blackout, Art en Ile, Genève (CH)
2007 Xmas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2007 Bestial, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne (CH)
2007 Summer reflections 2007, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton (US)
2007 Summershow, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Kopenhagen (DK)
2007 Swissmade, Kunstraum Wedding, Berlin(DE)
2007 Group show, Etienne & Van den Doel, Oisterwijck (NL)
2007 Da Capo, Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto (CA)
2007 PINK, Arena1 Gallery, Santa Monica (US)
2006 Xmas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen (DK)
2006 Fire and Ice, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton (US)
2006 Here we go, Galerie Une, Auvernier (CH)
2006 Kaléidoscopique, Villa Dutoit, Genève (CH)
2005 Finissage, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Genève (CH)
2005 About flowers, Galerie Elisabeth Staffelbach, Aarau (CH)
2005 Shining stars for a shining art, Galerie Une, Auvernier (CH)
2005 After Nature, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Bruxelles (BE)
2005 Théodore Stravinsky et l’art contemporain, Atelier Picasso, CNES, Paris (FR)
Invito, Galerie Une, Lugano (CH)
2005 Lines and curves, LIMN Gallery, San Francisco (US)
2004 Wonderland, Galerie artone, Zürich (CH)
2004 10 artistes neuchâtelois contemporains, Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds (CH)
2004 Jet d’eau, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal (CH)
2004 Spectrum, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand , Genève (CH)
2004 Heaven’s gonna burn your eyes, Cartelle Gallery, Los Angeles (US)
2004 Solaris, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York (US)
2004 Swiss Art Awards, Halle 3, Messe, Basel (CH)
2004 LASKO, un panorama du wall painting en Suisse, Centre d’art, Neuchâtel (CH)
2004 Question de couleurs, bh9, Genève (CH)
2003 Donation Jeunet, une collection d’art contemporain, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel (CH)
2003 66è Biennale de la SAA, Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds (CH)
2003 Objectif Une, Galerie Une, Auvernier (CH)
2003 Galerie artone, Zürich (CH)
2003 Swiss Art Awards, Halle 3, Messe, Basel (CH)

Public and Corporate Collections

Pizzuti Collection, Columbus Ohio (US)
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel (CH)
Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain, Genève (CH)
Veijle Kunstmuseum, Veijle, (DK)
Singapore Art Foundation, Singapore (SG)
Musée de la Communication, Bern (CH)
Museo Ettore Fico, Torino (IT)
Sal. Oppenheim Collection, Zürich (CH)
Donation Jeunet, MAH, Neuchâtel (CH)
Bank Julius Bär, Basel (CH)
Hopital communal du Locle, Le Locle (CH)
Wellington Management Company Collection, London (GB)
ASP Consulting, Wien (AT)
Crédit Suisse, Zürich (CH)
Collection David R. Brollier, Geneva (CH)
nufnuf-art Foundation, Semsales / Genève (CH)
Computer Associates, New York (US)
Bank Julius Bär, Basel (CH)
KBL (Switzerland) LTD, Geneva (CH)
Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, New York (US)
Mediterranean Bank Plc, Valetta (MT)
Nordea, Copenhagen, (DK)
Lego Group, Billund, (DK)
Winterthur Assurance, Lausanne (CH)
Crédit Agricole, Neuchâtel (CH)
Crédit Suisse, Basel (CH)
Clariden Leu Banc, Zürich (CH)
UBS, Genève (CH)
UBS, Bex & Porrentruy (CH)
Meeschaert Asset Management, Paris (FR)
FinansDanmark, Denmark (DK)

Grants and Awards

2018 Fondazione Schiaredo, Barbengo, Lugano (CH)
2016 Fondazione Schiaredo, Barbengo, Lugano, Switzerland
2011 Atelier Visarte Schweiz, Cité des Arts, Paris, France
2006 Atelier de Neuchâtel, Berlin, Germany
2003/06 Atelier pour plasticiens de la Ville de Genève, Genève, Switzerland
2003 Prix Théodore Strawinsky, France
2001 Universität der Künste, Berlin (Klasse Marwan), Germany
2001 Prix de la SAA – Prix du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Biennale de la Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1997 Atelier Le Corbusier, Cité des Arts, Paris, France

Bibliography / Press (selection)

2014 Severine Cattin, « Quand l’alchimie règne en maître », in, L’Express-L’Impartial, 13.10.2014, Neuchâtel
2014 Jenny Do, « Collectif SPRAY », in TRIBU Magazine 3 « Men of Art », pp.71-88, June 2014, Geneva
2014 Nils Dupont, « De droites Lignes à grands coup de pinçeaux », in GoOut !, Feb 2014, Geneva
2012 Simone Simon, « Devergezichten van Thierry Feuz » in Tableau-Fine Arts Magazine, pp.94-99, Amsterdam
2010 Lorette Cohen, « Mouvements Irrationnels », in Supplément Arts, Le Temps, 17 nov. 2010
2009 Lorette Cohen, « Usine à image », in Le Temps, octobre, 2009
2009 Roberta Carretta, « Il regno di Flora », in Flower Power, Andrea Busto, Silvana Editoriale SPA, Milano
2009 Christopher Lord, « Within you without you », in Time Out Dubai, March 19-26 2009, Dubai
2009 Farrah Pochkahanawala, « Reality Check Carbon12 goes abstract » in Kaleej Times – W. review, 13. 03. 2009, Dubai
2009 Shweta Parida, « Interview with Swiss artist Thierry Feuz at the opening of his exhibition at Carbon 12 Gallery » in DE51GN, Art Profile, 11 March 2009, Dubai
2008 Dominique Bossard, « Des gâteaux qui auraient fondu au soleil », in L’Express, 17 septembre 2008, Neuchâtel
2008 Marie Kirkegaard, « The visible / invisible stratum of reality », in Pushing Daisies, Cat. Galleri Egelund, April 08, Copenhagen
2006 Sophie Bourquin, « L’alchimiste du minuscule », in L’Express, 19 octobre 2006, Neuchâtel
2006 JD Talasek, « Supernatural, paintings by Thierry Feuz, in Washingtonian, october 2006, Washington DC
2005 Gautier Huber, « News aus Neuenburg », in Kunstbulletin, 1/2.2005
2004 Gregoire Praz, « Lasko, un panorama du wall painting en Suisse , » in Art Press, pp.76-77, sept. 2004, Paris
Edmond Charrière, « A l’aune de Pierre-Eugène Bouvier – Dix artistes neuchâtelois contemporains, Catalogue d’exposition, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Chaux-de-Fonds, Ed. Virages, Neuchâtel
2004 Nadia Lutz, « Freipass für genfer Künstler ; Jet d’eau » in Basler Zeitung, 30 août 2004
2003 Phedra Jost, « Psychotropical, Malereien von Thierry Feuz », in Helvetissimo d., mars-avril 2003
2003 Walter Tschopp, « Rigueur et liberté » in Donation Jeunet, une collection d’art contemporain, Catalogue d’exposition, Ed. Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel
2003 Sonia Graf, « Biennale : La jeunesse et la figure humaine donnent le ton », in L’Impartial, 3.12. 2003
2003 Marino Buscaglia, « A propos de Technicolor total panorama 1 » in 66è Biennale de la Société des amis du Musée des beaux-arts de la Chaux-de-Fonds, Catalogue d’exposition, La Chaux-de-Fonds
2003 Nicole Rudick, « Psychotropical » Catalogue d’exposition, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York
2001 Christian Sester, « Thierry Feuz », in Etats d’art, bulletin de la Société des amis des arts de la Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds

Art Critique

“Beauty is difficult.” Plato, Hippias maior, circa 390 BC

Thierry Feuz – Eternal Journey to Inner Truth

Oliver Orest Tschirky

Spleen and Ideal
The paintings and objects by Thierry Feuz are a neo-baroque journey in times of post-modern enlightenment. It is neo-baroque because the works are full of opulence, movement and emotions; it is a journey because the associated themes circle from the universe with stars and galaxies to life-size flowers and zoomed blossoms to micro-cosmoses and nano-worlds; it is post-modern because the artistic concept plays with fragmented and deconstructed elements of memory and culture; and finally it is enlightenment because the pictures open the view through a focused rationality to new and complementary realities.

Universal Scenes
The perfect and balanced compositions, the thrilling and audacious color combinations, the use of strong and pure paints, the clarity and cleanness of the structures, the elaborated design of the single painted elements, and the lack of classical perspective, the depth of focus by means of the blurring of some depicted elements are inherent parts of all works. Because the images always oscillate between abstraction and figuration, there is no direct narration but a lot of space for interpretation. Nevertheless the bright colors are spreading out on the canvas like a firework and are generating either biomorphic shapes or, in another series of paintings, geometric horizontal lines. The fascinating pictures with its color explosions and psychedelic plays of colors leave a deep impression without the understanding at first sight what is going on.

In the last five years Thierry Feuz has developed an impressive and rich bunch of series of paintings. Most of the images will be read as flowers, still lifes, landscapes, a crowd of microorganisms under a magnifier, opulent and irregular patterns with blooms or starry night skies. The paintings of the colorful series “Gulfstream” are named after the warm water current of the Atlantic and seem like nature pieces, enchanting flower fields or tropical gardens. The related works “Psychotropical” represent maybe a closer look on vegetation such as a small group of plants or a bouquet of flowers. They express the crazy, the excessive, the uncontrolled and the inconceivable during the flush after having taken hallucinogenic drugs. In the group “Atlas” the plants are more or less regularly distributed on the canvas like a part of an endless pattern or a proliferating network of plants. The “Supernatural” are probably close-ups of particular blossoms and the representation of an artificial world. “Levante” are like portraits of isolated flowers with an mysterious light around its head. The “Technicolor” series are strip paintings with various horizontal color bands what create the impression of a passing landscape like a color movie with a fictive ride through a landscape. They even may tell a little unspectacular but unclear and incomprehensible story. Finally, the “Andromeda“ images with mainly a black background and small white or colored dots can probably be construed as the view upward to the night sky with its stars and planets and are one of the latest inventions by the artist.

Devine Illusion
To create these brilliant and shining paintings, Thierry Feuz has developed his own practice, style and technique. He works with wet on wet acrylic paint and lacquer what means that he puts fluid paint on a liquid ground coat. The canvas has to be located horizontally on a table while he puts the monochrome key lacquer. Therefore, he mostly applies a white, more rarely a black or another very strong base color. Immediately, and before the paint starts to dry, he needs to add the other colors onto the wet ground coat and starts to draw and paint with brushes, little sticks, hair combs, scrapers, knifes, sprays and air brushes as well as other instruments and tools. The great challenge is to keep the smooth homogeneity of the surface and to bring together to an entity the controllable with the uncontrollable of the extremely fluid paints.

He has to work very carefully and precisely because there is no possibility of correction. What once has been painted is meant to stay forever. His challenging goal is to reach perfection in design and color combinations with minimal interventions. Like a conductor wants to manage the momentum of the musicians and to evoke the complete sound, Thierry Feuz wants to give the right amount of the paint with the accurate movement to the perfect position while the amalgamation of the colors has its own dynamic and rules. They mix themselves a little by natural and uncontrollable diffusion. The result leads to color resonance and vibrancy, rhythm, and harmonic tonalities. Additionally, he also has to be in a special mood to do his artistic work, in a kind of mental flow.

Evolution and Revolution
Today, Thierry Feuz definitely is a multicultural world traveler in the matter of art with a very long and impressive curriculum while he still holds his base in the little cosmopolitan city of Geneva. Already during university he started to participate in various exhibitions, received grants and awards and was published in publications. Originally, he was born in 1968 in baroque and glamorous Vienna, Austria, where he grew up and went to school. After his academic studies in art history and history in the cozy city of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, he became student of the Department of Fine Arts at the Geneva University of Art and Design. He specialized in painting, spent an exchange year at the University of Arts in vibrant and dynamic metropolis Berlin and finished his art education finally with a Master of Arts.

Dissolution
At first glance at the joyous paintings by Thierry Feuz the topic is nature, especially flowers and landscapes, even the works are oscillating between figuration, ornament and abstraction. From single blossoms to entire bouquet of flowers, from floating parts of plants to crawling microorganisms, from firmament to linear landscapes, you find all different kinds of illustrations and allusions in the canvases or drawings. But the attentive observer not only sees the bright, shining and joyful play with colors and forms or layers and tomes but also senses the deep and evocative meanings. What seems to be a contradiction between intellect and superficial beauty, in reality is not. Thierry Feuz unifies classical, medieval, baroque, impressionistic, surrealistic and abstract-expressionistic elements with post-modern spirit-of-the-time philosophy and topical cognition.

Flowers of Evil
The historic origin of Thierry Feuz’ flower and landscape pictures can be found in the Latin wall paintings with idealistic gardens and parks or in the architectural element of the arabesque, the decorative flower cirrus. Later follow around 1410 the religious medieval garden of paradise by an unknown master and the spiritual and meaningful baroque Bodegones still lifes by Juan Sánchez-Cotán or Juan van der Hamen y Leon. The impressionist painters like Claude Monet with the water-lilies and Vincent van Gogh with the sunflowers tried to express emotions through flowers. Also the surrealistic landscapes by Max Ernst evoke similarity. The most analogies exist with the abstract expressionists. They contend the energy of Jackson Pollock’s action paintings and drippings or Sam Francis’ clouds, the contemplation of Marc Rothko’s color fields or Ellsworth Kelly’s structural monochromes, as well as the allusion of Cy Twombly’s history paintings or Willem de Kooning’s abstract landscapes. However, when Thierry Feuz paints something comparable to flowers and gardens, then he includes all these topics.

Both seductive and repulsive at the same time are the paintings by Thierry Feuz. “By making art I can live more sensitively but it also costs me a lot of energy”, Thierry Feuz confesses by speaking about his life and work. The ambivalence in the painting is obvious and pervasive for the sensitive observer as in the splendid and poetic images are the existential themes such as beauty, love and death, the decomposition of life and nature, the dramatic process of creation, propagation and decay coherent. Like baroque paintings are expressing triumphant power through dynamic composition and ambiguity, Thierry Feuz is fathoming and sharpening the scope of perception and cognition of the beholder, is breaking boundaries and is creating significance for deep emotions and sensations as well as secret and hidden meanings. With emotive dynamism, intensity and immediacy he tries to communicate something in a subtle way because art should move the observer without being completely clear since art cannot give definite answers but only evoke disturbance.

Author:Oliver Orest Tschirky
Oliver Orest Tschirky is a renowned independent curator and art critic based in Zurich, Switzerland. He has served as a curator at the oldest art museum in Switzerland, the Bern Art Museum, as well as at the Kunsthaus Langenthal Contemporary Art Museum. He has also held the position of Dean of the School of Art and Design at the University of St. Gallen, one of Europe's top universities. In addition, he has worked as the Deputy Director of Art Basel, Deputy Director of the Miami Beach Show, and Director of the Artvera Gallery in Geneva.
As an art historian, Oliver Orest Tschirky specializes in the study of modern and contemporary art, employing various sustainable and interdisciplinary research methods. He holds a master's degree in International Relations from the University of St. Gallen, as well as master's degrees in Art History, Philosophy, and Film Studies from the University of Lausanne and the University of Bern. Oliver Orest Tschirky has rich experience in museums and experimental exhibition spaces. Moreover, he is fluent in multiple languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. He has curated exhibitions, published exhibition catalogs, and organized cultural projects and events.

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