I am a Switzerland-based artist transforming regular ideas into unique shapes. With my precious, often pseudo - functional objects, I reflect on the traditional users of such items and the associated chapter of our cultural history.
I studied jewellery and object design at the "Berufskolleg" in Pforzheim, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and the studio of Simone ten Hompel in London. In 2002 I graduated as Master of fine Arts at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam and specialised in porcelaine and silver tableware.
2010 I has been invited as artist in residence at the l’imprimerie in Lausanne. My work is internationally recognised and I have collaborated Alessi, Milano (2002) and the Rietveld in the Beurs van Berlagen, Amsterdam (2004). I have also exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum, in Collect at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Saatchi Gallery, London, at the Gustavsberg Konsthall, Sweden and at Art Genève, Switzerland.
We can still discern the simple and familiar everyday objects on which my creations are based. But I transform them through deformation, shifts in scale, and conversion into other materials. I apply my technical knowledge to create those fragile artworks that you hardly dare to touch, much less use. And actual use would in most cases be out of the question anyway.
Although the well-known principle of ‘form follows function’ does not apply — or is suspended— with regard to my artworks, it repeatedly appears here as a (negative) reference. I dedicate myself primarily to utensils from the realm of food and fine dining, but I am not really interested in their general history, as demonstrated, for example, by the use fo certain materials. Instead, I take up in my work very specific objects with which particular traditions or histories are linked, reflecting and commenting on the manner of their use over time.
My creations do not have an inside or outside anymore. The form is transparent, the function is taken away. Only the décor is left and doesn’t have any purpose but serving its own beauty.
More info: wiebkemeurer.com
