Patricia Bucher

Bucher patricia portrait cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

We see more with our minds than our eyes.

Patricia Bucher is interested in the layered interpretation of signs, symbols, and pictorial forms. Unfolding like a piece of postmodern architecture, her drawings, watercolours, sculptures, and kilims (woven carpets), create non-hierarchical worlds and situations, delineating conventional ideas of subject and object. Each work playfully questions the notions which made the human-led subject the only relevant perspective. In the background of Bucher’s practice is rigorous research into semiotics and the relationship between perception, reality, rationality and understanding. We approach the world with concepts and everything we see is filtered through that lens. However, something can happen that makes us shift our lens and suddenly, we are looking at the same object, with a different perspective. The signs and symbols of everyday life, for example traffic signs, have given us the rules of the road, the rules through which we perceive our reality. Yet, those perceptions can shift so quickly and ambiguously, and it is in that moment that Bucher catches us. Her intricate works carefully denote that moment when perception can shift, usually unobserved, leaping across demarcations into a world where we see more with our minds than our eyes.

Many of my questions revolve around the political nature of demarcation and the question of what it aims at, what consequences it entails, who it protects and who it excludes.

Patricia Bucher

Bucher patricia portrait cahiers dartistes pro helvetia zurich

Inhabited by multiform characters (inhabitants, pets, wild animals, robot vacuum cleaners), Bucher’s scenes are filled with anticipation, mystery, irony and curiosity. A grey ground, a grey-er sky, some weather perhaps, the scene plays out against this backdrop, along a single line marking the horizon; a two-dimensional stage evocative of early 2000s platform games. A prehistoric creature peers over a wall, a smaller one peers under. Then, in cahoots, the smaller tops the other to get a better look, but what are they looking at? The other side of the wall is identical. Meanwhile, a Kandinsky-esque geometry is apparently painting another Kandinsky-esque geometry, giving personhood to one over the other. Here we seem to have an object observing another object or an object taking the role of subject, a playful nod to Bucher’s inspiration and Kandinsky’s distillation of images as signs. Colour is used only when necessary and to add to the incongruity; the sky is red, the tree is yellow and yet the monkey still brown. Each composition consists of symbols and signs that Patricia Bucher develops from her own system of forms. For this, she studied the functions of sign, form and writing systems from different cultures and eras, reminiscent of the first denoted symbols, used as language-building tools by early man in the caves. Bucher presents us with myriad ways to use our memories, imaginations, and perception to release our own interpretation of her works.

Text by Constance Chester

Each composition consists of symbols and signs that Patricia Bucher develops from her own system of forms. For this, she studied the functions of sign, form and writing systems from different cultures and eras.
Bucher patricia studio night cahiers dartistes pro helvetia
Biography Patricia Bucher

born 1976 in Aarau, Switzerland


Education

2019-2020 Master in Fine Arts at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) Basel, Switzerland

1997-2001 Diploma with distinction FH in Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK), Switzerland

1999-2000 Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts, New York

1996-1997 Guest student at the the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK), Switzerland

1995-1996 Art and design preliminary course at the Schule für Gestaltung Aargau, Switzerland

1992-1995 Diploma in Business at the Handelsdiplomschule Aarau, Switzerland


Exhibitions (selection)

2023
(yet untitled), 10qm, Cologne, Germany (SOLO) (upcoming)
salon du printemps, Sam Scherrer Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland (upcoming)

2022
Patterns And Order, Villa Bernasconi, Lancy, Switzerland
Eyes Need Us To See, Dienstgebäude, Zurich, Switzerland
Zukunftserinnerungen, Galerie im Gluri Suter Huus, Wettingen, Switzerland

2021
As Thick As Thieves, Kunsthalle Arbon, Switzerland (SOLO)
rama lama ding dong, FORMA - Art contemporain & cabinet d'expertise, Lausanne, Switzerland (SOLO)
Ich wollte nie eine Konstruktivistin sein, Kunstverein Pforzheim, Germany
Auswahl 21, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
Zentral!, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland

2020
Features, Stadtmuseum Berlin, Germany
Life, Love, Justice - Next Generation, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland
of color, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

2019
earthquake, aeroplane, eye of a hurricane, FORMA - Art contemporain & cabinet d'expertise, Lausanne, Switzerland (SOLO)

2018
don't answer the door, Kunsthaus Grenchen, Grenchen, Switzerland (SOLO)


Residencies & grants

2022
COVID work scholarship, City of Zurich, Switzerland

2021
Artist grant, Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin, Germany
Work scholarship, Aargauer Kuratorium, Aarau, Switzerland
COVID work scholarship, City of Zurich, Switzerland

2020
Freiraum scholarship, Canton of Zurich Culture Office, Zurich, Switzerland

2018
Work grant visual arts, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

2016
Work grant, Aargauer Kuratorium, Aarau, Switzerland
Grant, UBS Cultural Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland

2015
Travel grant Turkey/Iran, Aargauer Kuratorium, Aarau, Switzerland

2014
Work grant visual arts, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

2013
Work grant, Aargauer Kuratorium, Aarau, Switzerland

2011
Manor Art Prize, Manor Foundation, Lucerne, Switzerland

2010
Freiraum-Stipendium Zurich, Studio für Wort und Wirkung, Zurich, Switzerland

2008
Hans-Trudel Art Prize, Hans-Trudel Foundation, Baden, Switzerland

2005
Jury Prize, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland

2002
Exhibition Prize, Art Society, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland

2001
Studio scholarship Paris, Aargauer Kuratorium, Aarau, Switzerland
Promotion Award, Zurich University of the Arts (diploma with distinction), Zurich, Switzerland


www.patriciabucher.de

Works by Patricia Bucher

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Watercolor and lino printing ink on paper / 23.3 x 27.3 cm / 9.2 x 10.7 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor lino cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Watercolor and lino printing ink on paper / 23.3 x 27.3 cm / 9.2 x 10.7 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t kilim bird cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Wool, dyed, woven / 223 x 149 cm / 87.8 x 58.7 in

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor lino printing ink cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Watercolor and lino printing ink on paper / 23.3 x 27.3 cm / 9.2 x 10.7 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t kilim cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Wool, dyed, woven / 227 x 160 cm / 89.4 x 63.0 in

  • Bucher patricia o t kilim wool cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2018 / Wool, dyed, woven / 222 x 150 cm / 87.4 x 59.1 in

  • Bucher patricia o t collage dartistes pro helvetia

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    2019 / Collage; serigraphed paper, partly handprinted with acrylic paint / 97 x 67 cm / 38.2 x 26.4 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor drawing cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2019 / Watercolor and lino printing ink on paper / 22.8 x 27.8 cm / 9.0 x 10.9 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor animals cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2019 / Watercolor on paper / 22.8 x 27.8 cm / 9.0 x 10.9 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t drawing cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2019 / Watercolor on paper / 22.8 x 27.8 cm / 9.0 x 10.9 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor palm cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor on paper / 22.7 x 27.8 cm / 8.9 x 10.9 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor charcoal cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor charcoal cahiers dartistes pro helvetia zurich

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t animals cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t charcoal cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor charcoal house cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t house cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t watercolor paper cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Watercolor and charcoal on paper / 23.9 x 20.4 cm / 9.4 x 8.0 in (framed)

  • Bucher patricia o t objects cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Wood, metal chain, pigeon repellent spikes, padlock, two bird cages, duck feathers / Dimensions variable

  • Bucher patricia o t architecture cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2022 / Wood, metal plates, basement compartment doors, concrete pillar, rabbit fence, barbed wire, cat door, padlock, dog carrier, straw Installation / Dimensions variable

  • Bucher patricia o t kunsthalle arbon cahiers dartistes pro helvetia

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    2021 / Wood, partially plastered with clay plaster with straw content, metal chain, lock, toilet rosette, socket / 285 x 240 x 165 cm / 112.2 x 94.5 x 65.0 in

Cahier d'Artiste by Patricia Bucher

How birds can keep you from marrying the wrong person, 260 x 260 mm, 64 pages (published by Jungle Books)

Patricia Bucher holds degrees in fine arts from Zurich School of Art and Design (today’s Zurich University of the Arts) and the School of Visual Arts New York City. She has been working as a professional artist since 2001 and earned a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Basel in 2020. In recent years, Patricia has created an extensive body of work that explores fundamental semiological questions. She works with different materials and techniques such as installation, architecture, object, collage, painting, drawing or texts. Patricia’s work explores the definition, legibility and constructedness of signs and forms rooted in our collective memory. Her visual language refers to writing systems, pictograms and symbols ranging from hieroglyphics to video games.

Patricia Bucher’s Cahier, entitled “How birds can keep you from marrying the wrong person”, presents her unique visual language. The book showcases her sculptures, which consist of simple, mostly orthogonal contours and sometimes contain an oblique at a 45-degree angle. Her chosen proportions provoke, breaking accepted architectural norms and taking them ad absurdum. The publication plays with the disrupted perception of proportions in her work. It consists of three parts: Part I presents the sculptures that Patricia Bucher has shown at exhibits in recent years. Part II includes a text by Claudius Fruehauf, the index and the imprint. Part III is dedicated to Patricia Bucher’s drawings.

The publication “How birds can keep you from marrying the wrong person” offers a fascinating glimpse into Bucher’s works, inviting readers to grapple with the unconventional dimensions of her sculptures and drawings.

Claudius Fruehauf (Lausanne) wrote the text for Patricia Bucher’s Cahier. He holds a degree in Architecture from ETH Zurich (2007). In 2008, he founded the architectural firm FHV Architekten – FRUEHAUF, HENRY & VILADOMS – in Lausanne. Previously, he worked as an assistant scenographer for Herzog & de Meuron in 2005–2006 and 2009–2010. In 2008, he worked as an architect for architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron in Basel.

Patricia Bucher is part of the Cahiers d'Artistes selection. Eight artists were chosen by a jury to realize an artist book with the support of Pro Helvetia. Their artistic practice is presented online on TheArtists.net.

With the Cahiers d'Artistes, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia enables artists from Switzerland to have their first publication and offers art professionals and the interested public a window to current trends in the Swiss art scene. For the first time, the Cahiers d'Artistes are not pure monographs, but artist books designed and produced by graphic designers Samuel Bänziger, Rosario Florio, and Larissa Kasper (Jungle Books) in close collaboration with the artists. More about the Cahiers d'Artistes on Pro Helvetia's website.

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