New York, August 17, 2009 — Perry Rubenstein Gallery is pleased to announce its representation in the U.S. of Swiss artist Zilla Leutenegger. Leutenegger has been exhibiting her multi-media work internationally since graduating from the School of Visual Arts in Zurich in 1995. Leutenegger’s first large-scale solo exhibition with Perry Rubenstein Gallery will be in March 2010; it will mark her first solo show in New York since 2003.
Drawing is the root of Zilla Leutenegger’s practice, whether it manifests itself in a wall drawing, a projection, or a traditional work on paper. Leutenegger incorporates drawing into various media; oftentimes video and/or animation are combined in installations that may span an entire room or building or may be confined to a small swatch of the wall. Playing with notions of space and time, the two-dimensional aspect of her drawing (be it on the wall, on paper, or animated on video) is often combined with three-dimensional objects to create a stage of sorts for the imagination. Exploring scenes or moments that have a poetic simplicity, her drawings and videos are images of ideas, more sketches than precise renderings, line drawings produced freehand.
Focusing on universal themes — architecture, domesticity, fantasy, and childhood — Leutenegger is not concerned with imposing an overarching plan or concept but rather wants the viewer to bring their own thoughts to the image or environment she creates. Leutenegger herself (or her silhouette or shadow) is most often the lone figure in the work, which points to a “solitariness” but also an exchange. Leutenegger expects the viewer to play a participatory role; as viewer, you feel as if you’ve been let in on a secret. The subtle ambiguity of the work allows it to float between playfulness and melancholy with exquisite sincerity; Leutenegger draws where she wants to stay and where you want to go.
Zilla Leutenegger was born in Switzerland and lives and works in Zurich. Past solo institutional exhibitions include Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau, Warth (2008); CCA Center for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv (2007); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2006), Fundació “La Caixa”, Sala Montcada, Barcelona (2004). Recent group exhibitions include Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover (2008), Parasol Unit, London (2007); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2007); Sammlung Goetz, Munich (2006); Tate Modern, London (2005); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y León, León (2005) Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama (2005), Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai (2005), Schaulager, Basel (2004), Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (2003), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2003), Kunst-Werke Berlin (2003).