Exploring Basel’s Avant-Garde Art: Heikedine Günther

Heikedine Günther recently presented her solo show in the heart of Basel, Switzerland, at Projektraum 54. There was a selection of 20, mostly new paintings and one sculpture, filling a space of more than 350 square meters in the beautiful city of Basel. Drawing inspiration from the connection between abstraction and natural forms, Heikedine shared with the public her works of art, including paintings, sculptures and her books. At the opening night, there were more than 200 people visiting, despite the pandemic, following the necessary measures to make the event run smoothly. The event was supported by Visarte, the professional association of visual artists in Switzerland.

Despite pandemic, Heikedine Guenther was able to benefit from the global lockdown artistically. She had a very productive time in her studio in Alps, a room filled with colours and serenity. There, Heikedine was able to finish several series of paintings. Some had been in the studio for longer as the works were still in progress, while others were fully new ideas that were conceived during this lockdown period. Heikedine had also created a huge new body of work within the first half of 2020. Many of these paintings and monotypes have now reached a new level of quality and fruition thanks to the constant development and dedication Heikedine gave in order to finalise them. Now that the world is slowly opening up again, the artist was excited to share these new works with others so she can share her productivity and creativity after the intense ninety days and nights in her studio in the Swiss Alps.

Heikedine Günther is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Switzerland. Her personal archetype and artistic leitmotif is the core. An avant-garde and versatile artist, her works draw on the connection between natural forms and the abstract on the one hand, and between the microcosm and the macrocosm on the other.

She was born in 1966 in rural East Westphalia. In 1982 she met Joseph Beuys and took part in his project of the «7000 Oaks» on the occasion of Documenta 7 in Kassel. The encounter with Beuys is a key experience, which radically opened Günthers approach to art. She then studied art in New York, followed by studies with Werner Büttner and Franz Erhart Walter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and with Martin Kippenberger in Kassel.

After working as a figurative artist, she paints her first abstract «core» in 2004. This proves to be another key moment. From then on, she dedicates her entire artistic work to the potential of the core. The titles of the core images follow the consecutive catalogue numbers.

According to her research, the core is a universal symbol, which can be found in any culture or religion. It combines within itself microcosmic and macrocosmic relationships: the core is both represented in every single biological cell of our bodies and is the basic form of every planet of the cosmic system. This universal openness of meaning creates the possibility for the viewer to connect with the core on a multitude of levels.

For her research, Heikedine Günther travels a great deal in order to train herself to see the world properly. Between trips, she returns to her quiet studio in the mountains of Switzerland to create. A skilled painter, she develops paintings off of which she takes unique monotypes as individual artworks.

The artist has a very promising agenda, including group exhibitions with Visarte, the Lugano Art Prize and Combat Art Prize Livorno in Italy.

You can see more of her work and get in touch here: https://heikedineguenther.com/