Artist’s statement by Alex Schauwecker, Walfisch-Studio:

1982 I was born in the old imperial city of Kyoto.

I spent my first childhood under the spell of refined old Japanese traditions, surrounded by the mountains and temples in the Kyoto basin.

When I was younger, what kept me on the move was the skateboard. What has stayed with me is an enduring passion for the mountains and an equal fascination by the topography of urban life. From both sources I draw inspiration for my work as an artist up to this day.

“Nature gives me happiness and teaches me patience.”

Working in my atelier in an old district of Zurich, I find myself in the middle of the hustle and bustle of everyday city life, and still, in the distance, I can see the beautiful Swiss Alps. In between, the space of imagination is wide open for a free circulation of ideas and concepts that find their way into my sketches and drawings. I do not think and work in terms of contrasts, of “either- or”. I am rather bent on a kind of art that discovers the common ground of both worlds and challenges the conventional perception of reality.




SELECTION OF EXHIBITIONS


2014

-Solo Show, Number 12 Gallery, Tokyo, October

-Solo Show, Gepäckausgabe, Kunsthaus Glarus, Mai-June

-Books at Tokyo Book Art Fair



2013

-Oslo Gallery, group exhibition, Basel

-Books at „I Never Read Book Art Fair“ during Art Basel

-Moma PS1, New York, Book Art Fair

-Books at Tokyo Book Art Fair




2012

-Gutenberg Museum, Group Exhibition, Mainz

-ECAL, Group Exhibition, Lausanne

-“The End is near“, Gallery Blamblamblam, Group Exhibition



2011

-Buchvernissage „Ghosts before Breakfast“ at Corner College/Perla Moda, Zürich

-Gallery Blamblamblam, Group Exhibition, Zürich

-“Sofortkunst“, Group Exhibition, Zürich

-International Community Center, Group Show and Book Vernissage, Kyoto



2010

-Number 12 Gallery Tokyo



COLLECTION

-Kunstsammlung des Kantons Zürich (Hochbauamt), photos and drawings

-Kunsthaus Zürich (Bibliothek), books