Marta Riniker-Radich at Galerie Francesca Pia

Artist: Marta Riniker-Radich

Exhibition title: Last Gasp

Venue: Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich, Switzerland

Date: October 26 – November 30, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich

Galerie Francesca Pia is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition of Marta Riniker-Radich (*1982) at the gallery, containing new drawings, a floor work and a soundpiece with a text, written and read by the artist.

Marta Riniker-Radich‘s motifs stem from research into various social, political and economic contexts that she combines with biographical, cultural and historical references.

The drawings and the text in this exhibition do not form a closed narrative ensemble. The red thread connecting the works forms the motif of a domesticity that seems as familiar as it is unreal. It tells of the intimate as well as the general, the familiar and the unknown. In the rooms of retreat, the playrooms and make-up tables, one’s own world seems to be playfully controlable and moldable. Like the childhoods wonder of Matrjoschka dolls, the multiple worlds nested into each other, the make-up box and the egg, the christal ball and the mirrored jewellery boxes function as image and world containers. The depiction of fetishized objects also reflects a political present that is characterized by a tendency to retreat into the supposed security and order of the familiar. This ambivalence between the domestic and uncannyness, boredom and claustrophobia is also reflected in the formal realization of her drawings. The perfection of the depiction and the symmetrical composition reveal the pragmatic, time-consuming construction of the pictures, yet the technical character of her drawings is cancelled out by the refined sensuality of the surfaces and their alluring colorfulness.

Marta Riniker-Radich (b. 1982, Bern) lives and works in Frankfurt am Main and Zurich. Previous solo exhibitions include Éclair, Berlin 2019; Kunsthaus Glarus 2018; as well as solo shows at Youth Club, London 2017; Swiss Institute, New York 2016; Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau 2016; Xippas, Paris 2016; Forde, Geneva 2015; Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal 2014; Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich 2012; Fondation Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel 2011; Hard Hat, Geneva 2010; New Jerseyy, Basel 2010. She held the Artistic direction of the independent art space Hard Hat in Geneva, from 2011-2014, together with Balthazar Lovay and Pablo Hurtado. Marta Riniker-Radich  was  awarded with  the  Swiss Art Award  in  2010  and Manor  Kunstpreis  in  2016.

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Installation view, Marta Riniker-Radich, Last Gasp, Galerie Francesca Pia, 2019

Marta Riniker-Radich, Baby Talk, 2018, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Fondazione Antonio Caccia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Born to Lead, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Born to Lead, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, The End of an Era, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Unwelcome Gifts, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, With No Apologies, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, The Conservative Treehouse, 2018, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Denn Hier Bestimmen Wir, 2018, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, A Sidekick Named Snake, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, A Frame of Cast Iron Lace, 2018, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Born to Lead, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, The Vapors, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, An Unattainable Memory, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia

Marta Riniker-Radich, Born to Lead, 2019, colored pencil and pencil on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Francesca Pia