Martin Disler
Martin Disler (Seewen, 1949 – Geneva, 1996) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer. A self-taught artist, he opened his first studio in Solothurn in 1969. During the 1970s, he worked primarily in drawing and graphic art; from 1978 onwards, he developed an expressive, at times very large-scale painting practice alongside a substantial production of prints.
From 1985 onwards, he devoted himself increasingly to sculpture, working in plaster, bronze, terracotta and mixed media.
His work is concerned with subjective expression and the tensions of the body. It unfolds through rapid gestures, dense surfaces and figurative or abstract forms that seem to transform under the viewer’s gaze. The Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne describes his paintings as the trace of an introspective process in which often violent emotions confront one another.
From the 1980s onwards, Disler became a central figure in neo-expressionist painting in Switzerland; he is often associated with the “New Fauves”, although he himself did not claim this affiliation. The DHS retrospective overview also recalls his participation in documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 and the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel that contributed to his international recognition. The holdings of the Aargauer Kunsthaus, enriched by donations from his estate, make it possible to follow the development of his works on paper.
