Intro
Jean-Frédéric Schnyder
Swiss Institute, New York
23 November 2011–26 February 2012
Content
Acclaimed Swiss artist Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, who represented Switzerland in the 1993 Venice Biennale, was given his first solo exhibition in New York at the Swiss Institute. For the exhibition, 35 of the artist’s signature small, bucolic, and yet unnerving paintings were shown alongside an immersive three-channel video installation, Corso Schnapsparade (2009), displaying a continuous procession of toy horse-drawn wagons each carrying bottles of schnaps (liquor).
The landmark exhibition of the artist’s works introduced New York audiences to the subtle, subversive work of the artist, which, despite its kitsch underpinnings, display deadpan reorganizations of modern life that are more ambivalent than celebratory. It would be six years until the artist’s work was shown in the city again, at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in 2018.
