Markus Zürcher (February 24, 1946 in

Herisau Herisau is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated ...

– February 16, 2013) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and representative of conceptual art and

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. Zürcher completed his initial training as Schaufensterdekorateuer in St. Gallen, after which he shifted his residence to

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. Subsequently, he attended free art courses and worked as stage designer. From 1971 to 1976 he studied painting at the Art Academy in Stuttgart, K.R.H. Sonderborg, then at the Gesamthochschule Kassel, studying sculpture and painting with Eberhard Fiebig, which he finished in 1983 with a diploma. With linear and minimalist works, he was considered an important representative of the concept art, influenced by

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, Meret Oppenheim and

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. Markus Zürcher was active in the Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects, but left in the early 1990s, and retreated largely from the active art scene. Since 2000 he was once more active, instrumental in the field of painting and theoretical, conceptual work.

Works and projects

His early work revealed a pronounced radicalism in dealing with minimal shapes; the use of color was largely avoided. Lithographs were created in limited editions, which emphasized this attitude. His later works, which as a whole had a unified, conceptual structure, actually played with colour. He had collaborated with writer and author Raphael Urweider.Kulturraum
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Publications

* Neue Galerie Kassel (Hrsg.), Markus Zürcher, Zeichnungen, 1986. * Berner Künstler stellen sich vor, GSMBA (Hrsg.), 1985. * Werro/Sandoz/Blancone (Hrsg.); Der Blaue Berg - SOS 12, 1984. * Zaugg/Egger; Lokaltermin Atelier, Verlag Bernische Kunstgesellschaft, 1987. * Frammenti, Interfacce, Intervalli. Paradigmi della Frammentazione nell' Arte Svizzera. A cura di Viana Conti. Genova: Edizioni osta & nolan 1992, S. 154-155, 202-203. * Us/Koselleck/Breitenstein (Hrsg.), Bürokartie, 2010, S. 46 ff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurcher, Markus 1946 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Swiss painters 20th-century Swiss male artists Swiss male painters 21st-century Swiss painters 21st-century Swiss male artists People from Appenzell Ausserrhoden Swiss contemporary artists