Discovering René Mayer: a master of contemporary Swiss art
René Mayer is often in the news these days. You’ve probably already heard a few echoes? This Swiss artist, with a style both rooted in tradition and boldly modern, is a natural eye-catcher. Even if you haven’t actually taken the time to explore his world, now is definitely the time to do so – an opportunity that presents itself without fuss.
His works are brimming with bright colors and unexpected shapes, catching the eye and giving everyone food for thought on themes that still seem relevant today. For those who love art, this is a surprising discovery; for collectors, the pieces prove to be quite a promising investment – especially when you see that they end up adorning well-established galleries. History buffs and even some critics regard his career as a fascinating subject for study – it’s worth noting, in all modesty, that his influences and slightly offbeat approach leave room for many questions. As far as curators and gallerists are concerned, his work injects a fresh touch that breathes new life into exhibitions and collaborations, almost unexpectedly.
When you dive into René Mayer’s universe, you’ll be carried away by a succession of stories told by each work, awakening sincere emotions within you.
An artist to keep your eye on, up close and curious.
The Artistic Creation of the Swiss Artist René Mayer: A Unique Experience
For over half a century, René Mayer immersed himself in his art, working incognito in studios near Basel, Switzerland, and in Bubbio, Piedmont. He kept his works to himself – until, somewhat unexpectedly, in May 2020 a first exhibition was held in the disused chapel of San Sebastiano in Bergolo, that small village with a cultural melting pot.
An art curator, who had discovered his work almost by chance, got involved, and the presentation was so successful that it lasted much longer than expected. Then, in September 2023, René Mayer launched the SAB Spazio Arte Bubbio, a contemporary space intended as a springboard for these still little-known Piedmont artists. At the inauguration, his works shared the stage with those of other local talents, reinforcing – as it were – the venue’s vocation to nurture contemporary art. In 2024, he returned with an exhibition entitled “Mutations furtives”.
This series, comprising some thirty recent abstract works, generally invites us to meditate on changes that are barely taking place before our very eyes. These subtle changes in our environment, often ignored until it’s almost too late, were at the heart of the series, set up under the critical eye of Luca Beatrice, President of Rome’s Quadriennale. Ultimately, these various exhibitions pave the way for public recognition of René Mayer, unveiling an immense body of work that had remained hidden for decades. They offer the public the opportunity, sometimes almost by surprise, to discover the full richness and diversity of his artistic universe – a sincere invitation to explore the many facets of his work.
Swiss artist René Mayer works in series
René Mayer has always preferred to work in series – each project bears its own title and is presented in a different way each time. In most cases, he devotes several years to one series before embarking on another, with the next idea usually requiring around one to two years of preparation. It’s as if he really digs deep into each subject, taking the time to rediscover its nuances before embarking on a new adventure.
Series of paintings:
Imperceptible Shift: A reflection on the imperceptible changes that transform our environment without us realizing it.
Moving Earth: The earth as a living entity, in perpetual transformation under the effect of nature and human activity.
Finiteness: A meditation on the ephemeral nature of life and the way we face our own finitude.
Boxes: The ambivalence between protection and constraint, illustrated by geometric forms evoking frames and enclosed spaces.
Eyes: An exploration of the human gaze, expression and connection through the intensity of the eyes.
Experiments: A series in which the artist pushes the limits of painting by testing new techniques and materials.
Sculpture series:
Viva Viva: Forms inspired by driftwood and Mexican statuettes, expressing movement and spontaneity.
Marble & Granite: Sculptures in stone, influenced by African art and the search for essential, expressive forms.
Each series deploys a poised – and, in all honesty, well-considered – approach where, generally speaking, artistic research always sets the ball rolling before creation takes center stage. In upcoming articles, we’ll be taking a closer look at each of them, unpacking their details and revealing, sometimes unexpectedly, their singularities.
The Imperceptible Shift series
René Mayer takes us, with “Imperceptinble Shift”, into a world where almost invisible changes reshape our daily lives without us really noticing. We often think that everything stays the same, but in reality, our environment is slowly evolving – whether in the intimacy of our relationships or on a much larger scale. In this work, the artist uses plastic chips – pieces, let’s say, a bit like those in a mass-produced casino – which he paints and glues onto his canvases with a slightly obsessive attention to detail.
These small, seemingly simple elements come to symbolize a civilization that, generally speaking, plays with the Earth like a gamble on a risky bet, and, in most cases, ends up losing. It’s also worth noting that Mayer puts his heart and soul into every stage of his creation.
He builds his own frames, stretches his canvases and prepares his pigments by meticulously superimposing each layer – an almost artisanal approach (yes, really) that demonstrates his attention to detail. The exhibition, curated by Luca Beatrice – president of Rome’s Quadriennale – took place in summer 2024 at SAB Spazio Arte Bubbio in Italy. This artistic rendezvous offered the public, as well as each and every one of us, the opportunity to plunge into Mayer’s universe and question, in an almost personal way, these discreet adjustments that are gradually transforming our world and calling for reflection on our collective responsibility.
In the end, “Imperceptible Shift” challenges us by reminding us, without fuss, that our reality is imperceptibly changing day by day. In most cases, the work encourages us to remain attentive and to rethink the way we interact with a world in perpetual evolution.
The Moving Earth series
René Mayer’s “Moving Earth” series presents us with an offbeat vision of our planet, far from being simply static. We discover a living Earth, in perpetual mutation, driven as much by natural forces as by the sometimes unpredictable actions of man.
In short, wind, water, time and human intervention combine to constantly redefine this world. The works are characterized by strong textures and a color palette that seems to dance across the canvas, evoking landscapes in motion. Mayer’s bold yet unobtrusive gestures capture this telluric energy; he imagines geological and climatic tremors as a raw force that ultimately shapes our environment, bringing out the constant tension between natural erosion and human imprint, without ever falling into simplicity.
To achieve these striking results, he uses a somewhat surprising method: superimposing layers of paint and playing with pigments treated using rather experimental techniques. This process lends his canvases an unexpected depth and materiality that accentuate the impression of perpetual movement – as if each brushstroke were a modest participant in a grand ballet of transformation.
Ultimately, the series invites us to take a different look at the Earth, one that is almost complicit in noticing how relief and elements metamorphose before our very eyes. Mayer whispers to us, in a sometimes nuanced way, that our planet is never really set in stone: it changes, breathes, reacts. Each work echoes a never-ending vitality, while questioning, in its own way, the delicate balance that unites man and his environment.
The Finiteness series
René Mayer draws us into the uncertain world of passing time from the very first brushstroke. Finiteness doesn’t just expose the ephemeral-it shows us how, in the blink of an eye, life becomes fragile and transforms itself.
Right from the start, we sense that this is an invitation to accept that the end is just one link in the long cycle of existence, even if, in truth, everything seems to move and change insidiously. On his canvases, fine, nuanced colors mingle with shapes that seem to fade away little by little.
Mayer amuses himself by contrasting what remains with what dissolves-matter with emptiness, light with shadow. Almost without thinking about it, he often creates paintings where a fragile moment freezes, where the instant seems both stable and on the verge of crumbling.
His search for textures goes beyond the simple piling up of colors. Playing with pigment superimpositions and erosion effects, he offers a somewhat unpredictable rendering, as if each brushstroke carried the weight of time working on everything it touches. Finally, Finitude forces us to reflect, however modestly, on the transience of life.
Mayer’s works stand as testaments to a beauty that, while fleeting, is full of poetry. Rather than displaying an obvious pessimism, they whisper to us that impermanence, while reminding us of what once was, also reveals the magic of a moment that does not recur, despite small uncertainties here and there.
René Mayer’s Eyes series
“Eyes” immediately presents itself as an incursion into the mystery of the gaze, that simple opening that reveals so much about the soul and emotions that we cannot always name. The artist, clearly fascinated by the intensity – and I do mean intensity – of these gazes, chooses to stage them as the beating heart of his works, where each eye seems to shout out its own story.
Glancing at the paintings as a whole, we notice that each gaze seems to both question and challenge. Mayer’s playful use of repetition, unexpected framing and surprising overlaps creates a singular interplay between the observer and the viewer. The colors, often of unsettling brilliance, combine with an almost palpable texture and depth that give the impression – yes, almost unreal – that these eyes are staring at us and probing us in their own way.
The work behind each creation relies on a meticulous handling of pigments and contrasts, infusing these eyes with a brilliance that, frankly, baffles. Generally speaking, Mayer explores the symbolism of eyes through various cultures and traditions, attempting to express, beyond words, feelings as diverse as curiosity, a touch of melancholy, a discreet strength, and that persistent mystery of the unknown.
Eyes thus reveals itself to be more than just a decorative series. Here, René Mayer weaves a subtle interrogation between himself, his work and us, the viewers, prompting us to ask – who is really watching whom? These are not simple motifs, but shared and confronting gazes, inviting each of us to reconsider our way of seeing and being seen, all with a touch of irony and an invitation to reflect, without ever appearing too calculated.
The series Boxes
René Mayer’s series Boxes examines the ambivalence between protection and confinement, a subject that constantly oscillates between what reassures and what limits. He uses a visual language of clear-cut, uncluttered geometric shapes to blur the boundary between shelter and constraint – a game in which one wonders whether the shield might not, at times, turn into a cage.
The artist doesn’t follow a set pattern; he lets ideas mingle and repeat themselves, inviting each viewer to make their own reading. Again and again, we discover motifs such as frames, boxes and grids that suggest enclosed spaces, generally perceived alternately as refuges or, on the contrary, as prisons.
Mayer plays with the viewer’s interpretation of these images; some paintings, for example, give off an impression of warm shelter, while others seem, almost unexpectedly, to induce a sense of oppression – whether experienced physically or, more subtly, on a psychological level. The result is a duality that plays out between the secure feeling and the constricting sensation, leaving some questions hanging in the air.
His mastery of color and texture reinforces this ambivalent tension. On the one hand, there are discreet, neutral shades that sometimes contrast – rather surprisingly – with bursts of bright hues, as if a small breach were opening up in a rigid contour. The superimpositions and variations in perspective, which follow one another in a slightly disordered fashion, offer a depth that disturbs and questions the space, without ever leaving it frozen.
In the end, Boxes invites us to reflect on our own frameworks, those we choose and those that are imposed on us, always with that little doubt lingering in the background. René Mayer subtly prompts us to ask whether our equilibrium really lies within these structures, or whether it might not be preferable – at least in some cases – to try to go beyond them to achieve greater freedom.
The Expérimentations series
René Mayer surprises us with his Expérimentations series, an approach in which he frees himself from fixed methods to always seek something new. He’s not content to follow a set path – he throws himself into exploring diverse materials and unexpected combinations, giving his work a dose of the unexpected and spontaneity that usually turns the classics on their head.
Each work is born of a somewhat chaotic, experimental process: Mayer observes how pigments react when he superimposes layers, and has fun mixing textures with surprising contrasts. He tinkers with the interactions between colors and materials – a kind of visual and tactile quest that gives each painting the appearance of a small creative laboratory, where chance sometimes finds its place.
What’s most striking is that Expérimentations goes far beyond a mere technical exercise, exuding Mayer’s characteristic curiosity and freedom to invent. At times, certain pieces open up avenues to new artistic directions, and can even be seen as the seeds of more structured projects; other works, on the other hand, remain unique, capturing a determined moment of research and invention – an almost imperceptible moment in time.
In the final analysis, Mayer is adamant that art should never stand still, preferring a shifting approach in which doubt, trial – and sometimes even accidents – play a key role. In this way, Expérimentations is an invitation to abandon established frameworks, to dare the unknown, and to consider art as a vast, limitless field of exploration, where every detour offers a new surprise…
The Viva Viva sculpture series
René Mayer’s Viva Viva presents us with a world where movement and spontaneity seem to creep into every nook and cranny – a kind of explosion of energy is felt at first glance, as if vitality were coming to life. It’s as if, in all simplicity, he captures this living flow, blending organic forms and diverse cultural influences, to let a raw, liberated joy shine through.
A closer look reveals that inspiration sometimes comes from completely unexpected elements, such as driftwood, whose surfaces, gently polished by time and the whims of nature, tell a story of transformation and adaptation. Mayer, by taking up this natural fluidity, spontaneously translates this metamorphosis into sculptures with surprising curves and expressive features. Without overdoing it, he also inserts vivid hues – a nod, as it were, to Mexican art – further reinforcing this impression of ceaseless movement.
In a process that blends rigor and artisanal passion, each work is fashioned in terracotta, a material that jealously guards the trace of the gesture, almost like the memory of a hand that dared to create.
The patina and nuances, applied with a meticulousness that proves that nothing is left to chance, accentuate the clash between the raw aspect of the material and the colored flashes that tickle its surface, sometimes in a slightly surprising way.
In the end, Viva Viva invites us into a discreet dialogue between form and color, a sort of silent but lively conversation. This series, charged with positive energy (as a rule, we almost feel the pure freedom of the artistic gesture), invites us to savor the joy of a creation that seems to spring, almost by chance, from a sincere and spontaneous impulse.
The Marbre & Granit sculpture series
René Mayer doesn’t just work in marble and granite – he looks for something timeless in them. His Marble & Granite series is born of a sincere desire for purity and endurance. As he moves from one gesture to the next, we sense the trace of African art, which often condenses the essence of a form into a few spontaneous strokes. The path to each sculpture is never quite linear.
First, Mayer sketches a small model in clay – a sometimes hesitant first draft – that allows him to grope and refine his ideas. Then, the stone finds its way into the hands of specialized workshops, where, little by little, the rough block is transformed into a considered work. He orchestrates each phase, even if it means accepting a few small imperfections that make the result more human.
The works are characterized by imposing volumes and lines that leap between softness and abruptness, creating a subtle contrast between finely polished surfaces and wilder textures. This blend highlights both the hardness of the material and the delicacy of the gesture, as if each chisel stroke were telling a story by turning back on itself. By anchoring his work in a demanding sculptural tradition while adding a resolutely modern note, René Mayer reminds us that behind the apparent solidity of marble and granite lies a true adventure. Each stone, from the original block to the finished work, seems to carry within it a memory, a transformation that is both faithful and surprising. It’s as if, in sculpting, he breathes into the material a voice that bears witness to a timeless humanity.
