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Paul Schwer / The Window
UGM Studio, Trg Leona Štuklja 2
9 November – 8 December 2018
opening: Friday, 9 November 2018, 19:00
meet the artist: Wednesday, 7 November 2018, 17:00

curator: Breda Kolar Sluga

For nearly 20 years, Paul Schwer has been working in the expanded field of the king's discipline of art, which has been wrongly repeatedly declared dead: painting. One could say that his path to painting was, from the back through the chest into the eye. And that with the eye is to take literally. For Schwer's painting-related concepts are always concerned with retinal moments of perception. And to transform these perceptual moments into pictorial constellations in which the fleeting nature of this perception manifests itself.
One could also say that Paul Schwer's painterly approach wants to state that nothing can be captured, that everything flows by, that everything is subject to momentary volatility and fragility. His concept revolves around the intermeshing of colour, light, space and movement. And with a great, almost one might say, thieving pleasure Paul Schwer works out of these elements to develop constellations that are in themselves of the highest ambivalence.
(from the text Rough Beauty / Ruppige Schönheit by Stephen Berg)

Schwer often explores the context in which he installs his art works. His objects, made from artificial materials, relate to the environment in which he exhibits.  The artist has had a lot of experience with working in very different artistic and cultural contexts from Istanbul to Düsseldorf, and yet again he always finds a different way to interact with each new city. He has visited Maribor twice so far, and was amazed by the city’s architecture, especially the variety of architectural styles that are tangled in a relatively small city surface.
He was researching, reading and collecting data about Maribor's architecture and decided to create an installation that will connect not only with the buildings but also with the people. He is interested in the experience of the local citizens, all of us, who know the city and its hidden gems, but also flaws, unrealized and unfinished projects, moments of hope and vision. You may bring your photographs to the exhibition or send them to the email address: paulschwer@gmx.de. During the exhibition he will collect photographs from visitors and include them in his installation.

Paul Schwer (1951) is a German Installation artist. From 1981 until 1988 he was a Master student of Professor Erwin Heerich in Düsseldorf Art Academy in Germany and finished the Doctoral degree in child and adolescent psychiatry at University Hospital, Essen, Germany in 1993. From 2007 he was a guest lecturer at Kunstakademie in Münster, Germany and became a guest professor at Performance department in 2016. Besides many achievements, awards and international exhibitions he is also known for his curatorial work in a durational project UnArt, an open studio for child psychiatric patients and artists in co-operation with the University Hospital Essen, the University of Dusseldorf and Dusseldorf Art Academy, that was ongoing from 1984 until 1998. He currently lives and works in Dusseldorf, Germany and exhibits in several countries. More about his work here.

KINDLY INVITED!