In cooperation with the Kunstraum Oktogon, we are showing the latest works by Andrea Heller (* 1975) and Dominik Stauch (* 1962) at two locations. As different as the works of the two artists may seem at first glance, they share a number of common interests in their work processes. Rhythm, color, movement are supporting elements in her works. Common to both artists are the multi-layered levels of meaning that are based on the dialogue between idea, language, culture and time, and always open up new projection spaces.

Andrea Heller studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and the Zurich University of the Arts, worked in the episode among others with a studio scholarship in Paris and now lives and works in Evilard and Biel.

The artist works in various media, whereas her ink and watercolor drawings – along with objects and assemblages, paper cutouts and text-based works – form the basis of her work. Her formal vocabulary is neither entirely figurative nor really abstract. Sensual-abysmal moods dominate – humorous, poetic, but also uncanny. There always seems to be a narrative meta-level inscribed in organic structures and geometrical structures;

but it is left to the observers to spin their own story out of it. «In the abstraction lies a multipotential. I provide a selection of possible topics or questions, which is then mixed with the ideas brought by the viewer.»

Dominik Stauch, who lives in Thun and started with video works, continues in his work to reconstruct aesthetic forms and ideological contents from pop culture. The artist works constantly at a „expansion“ of painting as he combines different materials (painting in oil, digital prints, computer animation, sculptures and installations) but at the same time he remains faithful to the color theory and also he remains an artist.

His goal is the consistent interaction of colors and forms. The reduction of basic geometric forms let him enough flexibility, to harmonize his conceptually attempt with the newest technique. Art history, music theory of the 20th Century and the Beat-literature give him the necessary foundation to create his work with the familiar depth.

Just like Andrea Heller, Dominik Stauch mentally relies heavily on the rules of association: «If something is given and set, all have a different perspective and other prior knowledge. That fascinates me.»
His work is – and has been a recurrent theme for a long time – formally strict and controlled. Nevertheless, biographical material keeps shimmering through. This creates a tension, precisely because these works never seem directly autobiographical.