2005-2006
Drawings in book; Paper, various pens
40x40cm

... is the title of my thesis established during the last academic year of my studies in Fine Arts at the Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne (Ecal). This work resembles a picture diary consisting of individual drawings on paper.

The drawings depict snapshots of everyday situations: banalities, highs and lows, expressions, impressions, or just experiences of life. The meaning of the drawings, especially those with inadequate or confusing slogans, is not apparent and obvious to the viewer. The viewer is invited to form his own opinion and make his own thoughts as well as to put himself in my place whilst gazing at my work. The use of ball-pens, conventional Eddingmarker, highlighters, pencils and metallic pens from the supermarket emphasises the relation to everyday life.

During my childhood, a sketchbook was my permanent companion in which I painted or wrote poems almost daily. Visiting an exhibition of Paul Klee in September 2005, I was inspired by the fact that he drew roughly a thousand images in one particular year. After some less difficult mathematical considerations one can conclude that he had created about three drawings each day. Taking this as an ideal it constituted the foundation of my idea from which the works originate.

Similar to my work, the work of the admirable artists David Shrigley, Danica Phelps and Banksy , also combine drawings and texts with relation to the present in their works. My work was influenced as well by work of the Nabis artist group which have a more documentary appearance, in particular by the work of Edouard Vuillard , Pierre Bonnard, Félix Valloton. Moreover, during the course of my studies I could benefit from collaboration with my former mentors, Karim Noureldin and Francis Baudevin (during the intermediate diploma year) as well as John Armleder and Gloria Friedmann (during the diploma year). Certainly, they all contributed to making this work a success.

A pecularity is the diary of year 2005-2006 in form of a picture book of size 40cm x 40cm bound in black linen, in which the individual drawings were included, was presented within an installation at the exhibition of the diploma work. The installation of a small living room, or a "feel-good corner" with a Le Corbusier armchair, an Eileen Gray table and a standard tear-off calendar was decorate with a single framed drawing out of the series. The visitors found themselves stepping into my living space and -in a way- into my life in order to view the drawings whilst sitting down: to laugh about them, be affected or perhaps simply just wonder what the artist had in mind. The tear-off calendar and the framed drawing suggested that still one picture each day arose for the picture diary.

This thesis won the Ernest Manganel 2006 prize which is awarded to graduates of the ECAL annually by the Fondation Ernest Manganel.

In show:

2006  

Degree show »F-F-Fin«, l'Elac, Lausanne, CH, 06.07. - 15.07.2006