Husmann/Tschaeni

Until Never
Hosier Lane Australia
March 2 - April 2, 2011

Pascale Mira Tschäni & Michael Husmann Tschäni live in Switzerland and both studied at the College of Art in Lucerne. They received further education at the National Institute of Design, India and a residency in Berlin.

Since 2003, they have developed a unique collaborative style encompassing the worlds of painting, comics, illustration, installation and recently also performance and have exhibited from Mumbai to Melbourne. It was like two completely different, somewhat incompatible picture languages had collided when they started working together. But somehow they managed to create pictures, stories and installations together, without having to change their styles.

Their current collaborations consist of both exquisite illustration works, in which they make use of their paintings and "left overs" of performances, like costumes and fabric sculptures. Both are displayed together to create an environment that is at the same time powerfully dominated by illustration and theatrical presence.They work backwards, painting in layers on the reverse of acrylic glass, using different materials, such as enamel, oil colour, watercolour, crayon, glitter and spray. 

In 2010, Husmann/Tschaeni were awarded The Swatch Young Illustrators Award at Illustrative11 in Berlin, the world's most important prize for contemporary illustration and the leading international forum for contemporary illustration and graphic arts. 

we work backwards 

so many sparkling stones don't like to be catched in the deep green-blue sea. we paint, draw and spray on perspex with enamel, oil, glitter, pearl - powder, crayon, pencil and a lot more.

they swim out of rage inside the jellybeans and then in winter sweets are so cold, no one likes to try them. we paint and draw in many layers until we can't see the first drawing anymore. only the snow stones feel connected and they sink together, white and sweet, deep inside the earth.

we turn around the painting and see the frontside.

Husmann/Tschaeni 2011