Biography

Kurt W. Schweikart 1954 – 2023

Grew up in a suburb of Zurich.

Attended the Academy of Design and Art (Faculty of Fine Arts) in Basel. Follow up studies of the ‘Platonic Bodies’ with the renowned Brazilian sculptor Maria Vieira.

Worked several months in Paris and Cairo (Egypt) as an artist.

1989 moved to Réclère, a rural village in the county of Jura.

Until 1993 exhibitions of 3dimensional works and oil paintings on the concept of geometrical abstraction.

Strong doubts about the purpose of art led to a temporary withdrawal from the art world.

Retreat into nature, in particular the garden as a symbol of a coherent order. The need to study this order in depth led to the first nature studies which served purely as a memory aid. Over time these studies developed into extensive works.
The first drawings were done without optical aid. But curiosity led into increasingly smaller fields of perception, which could only be reached by the use of a microscope.
The small precise drawings of minute plants where then enlarged up to 300 times. The decision to combine watercolour and pencil on Chinese mulberry paper was not taken by accident. The aim was to avoid heavy materials.

In submerging into smaller spaces, a totally new world opens up. Living bio-substances are ever so supple and flow smoothly. A new spatial language emerges. A ‘spatial language’ means e.g. the world of flowers and wood as far as the eye can reach or the world of minerals and so forth.
All these worlds have their own language of form, which is typical for their realm of manifestation. The study of any ‘new’ language of form leads unavoidably to a new understanding and assessment of one’s perception of every day live.

A chronic progressive illness is diagnosed at the beginning of 2013. By mid-2013 this illness made any further artistic activity impossible.

Kurt W. Schweikart died on 25 June 2023.

The watercolour drawings and the sculptures presented in this collection were created between 2009 and 2013. The studies of lichen in 2006, the landscape and architectural drawings between 2004 and 2005.

Individual exhibitions

• 1982 Werkgalerie, Basel
• 1986 Kleine Galerie am Wiesenplatz, Basel
• 1987 Galerie Commercio, Zurich
• 1999 Botanischer Garten Basel
• 2000 Naturstudien, Orangerie Zurich
• 2000 Etudes sur la Nature, Galerie FARB, Delémont
• 2001 Il paesaggio nel fiore, Galleria Mosaica, Chiasso
• 2002 Vers la Lumière, Villa le Chêne, Geneva
• Since 2010 anual Exhibitions in the Atelier, Réclère
• 2012 art gallery ryf, Zurich

Group exhibitions

• 1980 Les Usines d‘Alesia, Paris
• 1981 Hammer II, Galerie F. Handschin, Basel
• 1984 Atelier Ausstellung, Biel
• 1986 ART-Forum, Basel
• 1987 Dimension Bâlois, Galerie KARA, Geneva
• 1988 30 junge Schweizer Plastiker, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon
• 1988 Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo
• 1993 Kunst im Walbauch, Bahnhof Stadelhofen, Zurich
• 1993 Galerie M.-L. Wirth, Hochfelden
• 2013 Galerie FARB, Delémont