Born in 1975, Marc Bauer studied in his native city at the École Supérieure d’Arts Visuels in Geneva from 1995 to 1999, before continuing his training in Amsterdam (Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, 2002-2004). Next he went to Rome, where he was awarded an artist residency at the Swiss Institute from 2005 to 2006.
Initially interested in video and montage, it was mainly in the practice of drawing that he forged his path, while continuing to practice animation. Drawing upon family archives and grand narratives, Marc Bauer revives photos, portraits, on various media, connecting them with a personal or contemporary situation. From the white page to the exhibition wall, his mainly black-and-white drawing leaves a lasting impression. Through rubbing, he partially blurs the realism of his subjects, reflecting our vague, selective, fragmentary memory.
In his approach, often characterized as “archeological”, Marc Bauer collects, selects and reproduces images. It is a kind of reconstruction that echoes not only the cinematographic world that is so dear to the artist, but more precisely montage, a technique he transposes into his work. Favoring series and in situ projects in the context of his solo exhibitions, he more particularly explores history’s dark events, as well as questions of identity and power.
A number of institutions have dedicated solo exhibitions to his work, including the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain in Geneva (MAMCO, 2010), the Swiss Cultural Centre in Paris (2013) and the Musée Jenisch in Vevey (2016). He lives and works in Berlin and Zurich.
Initially interested in video and montage, it was mainly in the practice of drawing that he forged his path, while continuing to practice animation. Drawing upon family archives and grand narratives, Marc Bauer revives photos, portraits, on various media, connecting them with a personal or contemporary situation. From the white page to the exhibition wall, his mainly black-and-white drawing leaves a lasting impression. Through rubbing, he partially blurs the realism of his subjects, reflecting our vague, selective, fragmentary memory.
In his approach, often characterized as “archeological”, Marc Bauer collects, selects and reproduces images. It is a kind of reconstruction that echoes not only the cinematographic world that is so dear to the artist, but more precisely montage, a technique he transposes into his work. Favoring series and in situ projects in the context of his solo exhibitions, he more particularly explores history’s dark events, as well as questions of identity and power.
A number of institutions have dedicated solo exhibitions to his work, including the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain in Geneva (MAMCO, 2010), the Swiss Cultural Centre in Paris (2013) and the Musée Jenisch in Vevey (2016). He lives and works in Berlin and Zurich.
