Jan Hostettler
23.1.
—
12.4.2015
Beweise
On the whole basement of the Kunsthaus Baselland, Jan Hostettler leads the visitor in a series of new works and installations that demonstrate his continuing interest: his dedicated search for traces of their own and other interventions in the public and institutional space and their impact on our daily lives. There are critical, but also poetic and humorous works, in which Hostettler questiones our action and everyday functioning in the world and at the same time just makes us aware of this.
In the first room of the ground floor a greenish shimmer of thick waxy skin covers the exhibition floor and a newly built wall. Standing in the room it seems like a giant screen. Hostettler uses this wall similar to a surface for his special painting. Attached to the heating, he pressed previously through several meters long horizontal wall slot 200 liters of liquid paraffin. The liquid, colored with malachite material, flowed in different density tracks on the wall as well as on the ground in front of it — leaving behind a thick layer of wax. The result resembles a huge picturesque gesture and also tells an impossible possibility, with all of the above means and circumstances to provide such a work.
Beweise (evidence) calls Hostettler his exhibition, that immerses the visitor in a complex and multifaceted work, tells of crossing boundaries, ventures and sometimes daring discoveries of the artist, which usually come in his mind by walking and hiking through landscapes and urban fabric and lead him to actions. His interventions are most delicate, subtle and temporary. Since some time the artist searches for holes in house walls, on masonry and surfaces in an urban context and fills them withchalk dissolved in water. The white liquid runs directly down the wall, leaving behind fine traces that are visible only for a short duration. But more than just a humorous gesture, his artistic act are time-limited, delicate drawings in public spaces, which can create walking and acting as a sensual act.
The exhibition were generously supported by the partners of the Kunsthaus Baselland: kulturelles.ch, Gemeinde Muttenz, werner sutter AG sowie den Roldenfund, Ernst und Olga-Hablützel-Stiftung, SOKultur, Kanton Basel-Stadt Abteilung Kultur and Stiftung Edith Maryon.
During Jan Hostettler's exhibition the solo exhibitions by Oliver Minder and Katharina Anna Wieser were also on display.