Sara Gassmann
‘Wetterleuchten’ is Swiss artist Sara Gassmann’s first solo exhibition in Basel, which brings together new paintings, works on paper and ceramics with installation. Gassmann’s paintings deal with materiality and transparency. She explores process, form and colour, which manifest as recurring elements in her work. She describes each painting as being guided by the flow of its own production, which is sometimes smooth and sometimes a fight.
In her paintings, Gassmann uses acrylic and ink with a large quantity of water to suggest a watercolour effect and allow for areas of the bare canvas to be left untouched. Colour combinations are subtle and disturbing, and the artist’s brush mark is always visible; exposing the process. Transparency and layers are used to further this ‘reveal’.
Through installation, she uses overlapping layers and colour exploring new, larger constellations. Cardboard, styrofoam, plastic, wood, fabrics, filter-films and directly applied painting on the windows form the structure of this work. Gassmann understands her installation-based works as three-dimensional paintings that engage with visual momentum.
Her ceramic works and works on paper were made during a recent three-month residency in Shanghai. Gassmann is interested in the mutual exchange possible between these mediums. Using these materials, she experiments with colour and primitive form.
’Wetterleuchten’ will be the first time Gassmann exhibits her ceramics and paintings within a larger installation work. She will create one large-scale multilayered exhibition occupying the entire gallery space and visible to the public 24/7 from the public square.
Crators: Lea Whinyates Hess and Alys Williams.
Sara Gassmann (born 1980, Dagmersellen, CH), lives and works in Basel, CH. She graduated in 2013 from the Hochschule der Künste in Bern with a Master in Contemporary Arts Practice. Solo Exhibitions: Sonnenblende, SODA MOSA, La Chaux-de-Fonds, CH (2016); The Hierarchy of Gaze, Collaboration with Verena Issel, SPACE ONE, Seoul, KR (2015); Sara Gassmann & Francisca Silva, STADTGALERIE Bern (2014); Die Netze des Himmels sind weit, FELIX, Liebefeld, CH (2014); Sara Gassmann & Paul Lipp, AKKU, Emmenbrücke, CH (2014); Schneeschmelze, LA PLACETTE, Lausanne, CH (2013); Zu Besuch in Nichtberühringen, GALERIE KRETHLOW, Bern (2012). Group exhibitions include: La Grande Place, CENTRE D‘ART CONTEMPORAIN, Yverdon-les-bains, CH (2016); Open Studio, SWATCH ART PEACE HOTEL, Shanghai, CN (2016); Cantonale Berne Jura, KUNSTMUSEUM Thun | LA NEF, Noirmont, CH (2012 und 2015); Ortstermin, STADTMÜHLE, Willisau, CH (2015); Die Basis, KUNSTHAUS Langenthal, Langenthal, CH (2015); Jahresausstellung Zentralschweizer Kunstschaffen, KUNSTMUSEUM Luzern, Luzern, CH (2012 und 2014); 50 Jahre Ateliergenossenschaft Basel, KUNSTHALLE Basel, Basel, CH (2014); The Openness, INSIDE - OUT ART MUSEUM, Beijing, CN (2014); Werkbeiträge 14 Kanton und Stadt Luzern, KORNSCHÜTTE, Luzern, CH (2014); show me show me show me, CENTRE PASQUART, Bienne, CH (2013); el museo de la resistencia, GALERIA DANIEL MORON, Providencia, CL (2012); Bonjour Monsieur Duchamp, KUNSTPAVILLON, Munich, DE (2012); Die Folgen von Venedig, PROGR, Bern (2012). Awards and Residencies include: Künstlerresidenz Atelier Mondial, New York, USA (2017); Residenz am Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, CN (2016); Residenz am Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul, KR (2015); Werkbeitrag Kanton und Stadt Luzern, Luzern CH (2014); Marti Clerici Foundation, Chur, CH (2014); Residency at Inside – Out Art Museum, Beijing, CN (2013); Marti Clerici Foundation, Chur, CH (2013). Publications: La Placette: 111, Lausanne, CH (2014); Transhelvetica: N° 16 Kauz, CH (2013); Manuel Fanzine: N°3, Lyon/Lémania/Paris, FR (2013).