It may appear strange that a contemporary artist adopts a rather ‘obscure’ Swiss artist to feature as guest star in his solo exhibition.
But this is not so surprising, as we consider Erich Weiss’ recent history as artist of our gallery. He invited almost always fellow artists or colleagues whose work he appreciated to join him in his exhibitions: ‘Blood spilt for Nothing’ with Thomas Galler, ‘Bela Lugosi is Dead’ with Arno Nollen, Katia Bourdarel or Dirk Braeckman. This tradition of ‘collaborations’ or ‘œuvres’ made by multiple minds is no doubt a heritage of the spirit of surrealism. Because one could state beyond all question that «Surrealism is Weiss’ DADA». It’s his passion –since his childhood- a real obsession.
So it is no surprise when he picks out Otto Tschumi, to pay him a tribute. He will continue to do so by adding him to a list of an ambitious exhibition project that will be shown in April at the premises of the Von Bartha Collection – Basel and afterwards in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam (October 2016 > January 2017) under the promising title «SURREALISM & BEYOND».

The visitors of the exhibition at Galerie Bernhard Bischoff & Partner will be able to discover new collages, neon signs and photographic works of the artist Erich Weiss.
The title ‘BLACK’ has of course multiple and complex connotations, both positive and negative. First of all it’s clear there’s inside humour (tongue in cheek) involved: Erich Weiss making a ‘black show’. Black is darkness, it stands for evil, discrimination, colonialism, slavery, but at the same time it is the driving force between all the good music we grew up with: from Jazz to Rock’n Roll. In art there’s Malevitsch’s black square, as a point zero of minimalism. It remembers famous artists like Josephine Baker or Al Jones, operating in Cabarets and Musicals. All these people are Erich Weiss’ secret heroes and references. What he offers to the public never is an easy solution: he likes to puzzle the mind.

An important part of the exhibition will be the special site-specific performance made for the opening, in collaboration with the black dancer/actress Marthe Bolda, born in Cameroun.

Beware: the artist always keeps his promises. And Erich Weiss said that this exhibition in Bern would be “WILD”/ “WEIRD“/ “TRANS(A)GRESSIVE“ & “SEXY”!