Marylin II, 1977
three-colour etching

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Ohne Titel (Vorstudie für Bildtuch »Miss September 1966«), 1979 
felt-tip on paper, 21 x 29,8 cm
© Pro Litteris, Zürich

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Selbstbildnis (Self-portrait), 1977
three-colour dotted manner engraving, 5 x 5 cm x 38 cm

Raymond Roussel, Impressions d’Afrique, 1980, aquatint

Mary Long, 1977, eau-forte, etching
Photographie, 1977, photograph, drypoint
Kugel mit Schatten, 1977, ball with shadow, drypoint, sandpaper and burnisher

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M.O, after Man Ray, 1994-1995, engraving
Little Brush, 1994-1995, engraving

Hülse, 1995, engraving

Impressions d’Impression d’Afrique, 1980, aquatint
Défense d’y voir I, Impressions d’Impressions d’Afrique, 1980, etching and aquatint

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Torus, 1968
red stamp

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Ohne Titel, Bern, 28.1.1980 / 17
ink, brush mixed with white glue, 20.9 x 29.9 cm
© Pro Litteris

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ME/WE, 2007
photogravure and colour aquatint, 16 x 23.5 cm

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Kopf, 1984
Installation im Merian Park, Brüglingen/Basel, 1984
© Pro Litteris

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Eben, 1971
animated film, sound by United Laptop Orchestra

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MARKUS RAETZ in his workshop in Bern, 2011
picture © ALEXANDER JACQUEMET

all images courtesy the artist and their respective sources

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Since the late 1960s, Swiss artist MARKUS RAETZ (born in Bern in 1941) has developped an experimental, playful and visionary body of work offering a broad reflection on movement and perspective. Essentially rooted in the practice of drawing (RAETZ‘ oeuvre encompasses some 30,000 drawings), he has experimented with all manner of printing techniques: monotype, drypoint, etching, cigarette-work, engraving with a soldering iron, string printing and has worked on a wide range of supports: zinc, celluloid, linoleum, wood, pavatex or polyurethane.

Over the years, the ideas and the themes contained in the drawings are turned into works and become installations, sculptures, and monumental works. Often made from natural, unusual or ephemeral materials, they preserve the precision and the subtlety of his drawings as well as an awareness of being images and thus representation, game, thought.

His career began in Bern in the 1960s. By 1968, MARKUS RAETZ had been invited to participate in the Documenta in Kassel (and was invited again in 1972). After extended stays in Amsterdam (1969–1973) and Carona (Tessin, 1973–1976), as well as lengthy trips to Italy, Egypt, and Tunisia, he settled back in Bern in 1977 and has been active there since. In addition to representing Switzerland at the Venice Biennale in 1988, the artist has been exhibited regularly in solo and group shows at home and abroad, and has been honored with numerous prizes.

And good news: the Kupferstichkabinett (Department of Prints and Drawings) of the Kunstmuseum Basel is dedicating a retrospective exhibition of MARKUS RAETZ‘s drawings, on view until February 17, 2013.