Roman Signer
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Work from Signer’s Suitcase (film by Peter Liechti)
“Well-known for his artistic interventions since 1981, Roman Signer (St. Gall) is meanwhile considered one of Switzerland’s most prominent artists. Taking sculpture as his point of departure, Signer preoccupies himself with energy processes or ‘events’ as manifested in the actions he stages. His investigations of the natural elements of water, fire, earth and air are a means of exploring time. In this context, the playful suddenly takes on an existential quality; transience lurks beneath the apparent lightness of the elaborately devised processes. In an oeuvre characterized by humour and sarcasm, Signer also concerns himself with the role of the artist, which he completely demystifies. With a sense of self-irony, the “senselessly” active artist is presented as an eternal failure, for example in the guise of a tragic clown whose explosions and other catastrophes hardly leave a trace and literally go up in smoke.” – from a press release at Kunsthaus Zug.