Fragments of Narration

We are delighted to present the exhibition Fragments of Narration, in which we feature works by seven artists from our program and one guest. A remark by the conceptual artist Simon Starling in his current exhibition at the Kunst Museum Winterthur provided the title for the show. Every artistic work is part of a larger, comprehensive practice. To grasp the peculiarities of individual pieces, it is important to know the complete œuvre of the respective artists. Furthermore, each work contains its own internal references and provides fragments of a larger narrative.

Bob Gramsma (*1963, lives in Zurich) is one of the most significant Swiss sculptors. Known for expansive Land Art, here he is consciously dedicating himself to the small scale, which adds a new dimension to his formal language. Gramsma constantly experiments with industrial mixtures and coatings: this time he surprises with a hybrid tree sculpture with accents of polymer plaster. Behind it, a neon work shines through a plaster surface mixed with coffee powder, while six small sculptures, some bearing small piles of creatine, hang in the window display. Through these organic, body-influencing substances, Gramsma adds a fleeting, conceptual layer to his material-based research. At the center of his work remain relational gaps in which human presence, atmospheric processes, erosion, and temporality materially inscribe themselves.

A large-format watercolor by Slawomir Elsner (*1976 Wodzislav Slaski PL, lives in Berlin) hangs in the center of the room. This work was created for his major solo exhibition at the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich in 2024. For this show, Elsner conducted an in-depth examination of Peter Paul Rubens's famous painting, Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower, from 1609/10. In 17 pictures, he showed various possibilities for visual interpretation and adaptation. Among them is this radiant watercolor. In this work, Elsner refers to the unfathomable coloring of the carnelian, a reddish-shimmering semi-precious stone that Rubens's wife, Isabella Brant, wears in her bracelet in the painting. It is no surprise that Elsner, with his extraordinary sense of color, reacts to these specific colors in Rubens's painting. The gold border in the watercolor echoes the setting of the semi-precious stone in the bracelet.

A high-hung self-portrait as a sky dweller by Dieter Roth (1930-1998) complements the group of works in the first room. Roth often portrayed himself in self-portraits, particularly in the early 1970s, where protruding ears and the indentation on the head are a recurring characteristic.

In the main room, the large red work on paper Always on my Mind by Franziska Furter (*1973, lives in Basel) welcomes the audience. Furter often incorporates visual elements from her immediate surroundings. This work continues her playful engagement with manga backgrounds, as the artist relies on standardized depictions of explosions by manga draftsmen. The work is part of a series started in 2023 (three of these ink works are currently on view in the Zurich Design Museum exhibition "Pling! Design hören"). Through the white negative space in the center of the image, Always on my Mind unfolds an immense pull. Opposite in the room, another work by Furter can be seen—an object made of metal and wire that connects to the older series Island. Characteristically, Furter returns to familiar mediums and themes after longer breaks. This creates an oeuvre that is fragmented over the years but deeply interwoven. In the showroom, we also present Flow, a new series of drawings that emerged from Furter's fascination with the element of water and the inspiration from Augusto Giacometti's painting Bergbach at the Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur.

Rachel Lumsden (*1968 Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK, lives in Schaan FL) is a figurative artist educated at the Royal Academy Schools in London. The English tradition of figurative painting is central to her. She draws on her rich visual archive but also allows spontaneous inspirations during the painting process. The starting point of her work is the choice of the motif, which determines the picture format. After that, she is guided by the painting process. Here, the combination of colors and the placement of decisive brushstrokes are leading the way. She describes it like this: "My creative process begins with seeing, perceiving things, objects, and patterns in the world around me. The subject is for me less a strategic decision than much more a question of resonance."

The Georgian-Swiss artist Koka Ramishvili (*1956 Tbilisi GE, lives in Geneva) has recently been engaging more intensely with oil painting alongside photography and installation. In a series of oil paintings created partly without a brush—merely by distributing paint on the surface using fabric elements—he depicts enchanted landscapes. At the end of 2025, we showed his solo exhibition Coordinates. In this context, Ramishvili described how his works become coordinates in the world: markers of light and ambiance by which one can be guided and touched. These two newer works can be understood as landscapes on this exact map.

By Anne-Lise Coste (*1973 Marignane FR, lives in Paris), a door is on display upon which she has sprayed black hearts and sweeping "L" letters that correspond with the middle initial of her name. L O V E is written once, and aerosol can be sensed. Her oeuvre can hardly be fully comprehended without the omnipresent elements of text and writing. Equally characteristic is her urge to rely on alternative materials beyond the canvas, such as discarded doors. In the hallway hangs the neon work Poème, based on the artist's handwriting, which transitions into the showroom. While these works are part of older work cycles, we present a 2025 series with Fly Fly in the showroom. In these works, Coste proceeds introspectively: she leaves a lot of air on the paper, brings only a few precise elements into play, and leaves it to the audience to complete the scene in their mind's eye.

The exhibition illustrates that every artwork contains fragments of narrative in different forms. It is up to the viewer to discover these and complete them through imagination.