Bettina Carl

Lives and works in Zürich, Switzerland

Artist statement

I conceive my artworks as an interplay between showing and concealment, spatial orders and their disintegration, figuration and abstraction. In order to subsist and to be perceived, any composition must achieve a certain balance. In my works, however, this balance remains precarious: a momentary suspension of moving, highly dynamic elements that are striving to dissolve and reassemble. As a painter, I am particularly interested in the margins of my medium, and I also work with textile objects and installation. Layering, transgression and fragmentation are key concepts in my practice. In my works on paper, I want the simplicity of the material to contrast with a striking complexity in both form and content. I prefer large formats, employing an experimental, process-oriented approach, alternating between dry, linear elements and rather painterly applications of colour. In terms of content, my work stems from a critical yet playful examination of conventional patterns of perception, and their historical and political contexts. Concepts of corporeality, and the cultural construct of ‘nature’ are central issues of my practice.

Artwork