Sketch of Look 55, Akris Spring/Summer 2019, a collaboration with Geta Brătescu. Courtesy Akris; Geta Brătescu, Fără titlu (Untitled), 2013 © The Estate of Geta Brătescu. Courtesy the Estate of Geta Brătescu, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest and Hauser & Wirth

12 Oct 2020

In Zurich: Geta Brătescu and Albert Kriemler’s Collaboration

Presentation at Hauser & Wirth Publishers Headquarters

This autumn we are celebrating continuing influence of the work of Geta Brătescu in two special presentations in Zurich, opening 22 October 2020. Hauser & Wirth Publishers have collaborated with the Swiss fashion house Akris and its Creative Director Albert Kriemler to create a unique display of materials from their archive specially selected by Kriemler. Kriemler has long been inspired by the work of Brătescu and collaborated with the artist and Marian Ivan of Ivan Gallery for Akris’ Spring/Summer 2019 collection.

The presentation also celebrates the book conceived by Brătescu and Hauser & Wirth Publishers in 2019, ‘Game of Forms,’ which launches publicly on occasion of the opening of ‘Geta Brătescu x Albert Kriemler. A Collaboration.’ Complementing this display is ‘Geta Brătescu. The Gesture, The Drawing’ at Hauser & Wirth Rämistrasse, a considered selection of works on paper exploring the artist’s unique approach to drawing, line, and form, organised in collaboration with Ivan Gallery.

Reversible Portrait cashmere double - face cape, silk satin slip dress with georgette side tie, Ai medium messenger bag in Portrait print Akris Spring/Summer 2019, a collaboration with Geta Brătescu. Photo: Kim Weston Arnold. Courtesy Akris

Défilé Planning, Look 17, Akris Spring/Summer 2019, a collaboration with Geta Brătescu. Courtesy Akris

Continuing with Hauser & Wirth Publishers’ in-depth work with archival materials, the display at the Publishers’ HQ includes Kriemler’s collection archive, offering an intimate glance into the creative process of this renowned Creative Director. Sketches, colour charts, fabrics, videos, and garments bring to life his inspiration behind the Spring/Summer 2019 collection and celebrate the unique collaboration between Brătescu and Kriemler.

‘Geta’s feeling for selecting paper is very similar to how I select fabric. Fabric teaches me so much, and, like paper, it’s a beautiful material—it has a haptic quality.’—Albert Kriemler 

Akris Spring/Summer 2019 Inspirations. Courtesy Akris

Albert Kriemler discovered the artist’s work at documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel in 2017, and was inspired by her bold use of colour, line, and relationship to paper. After meeting the artist in her studio in Bucharest in 2018, Kriemler remarked how ‘Geta’s feeling for selecting paper is very similar to how I select fabric. Fabric teaches me so much, and, like paper, it’s a beautiful material – it has a haptic quality.’ Their artistic collaboration for the Akris Spring / Summer 2019 collection was one of her last projects before she passed away on 19 September 2018. For Kriemler the purpose of Brătescu’s art is to bring joy to our lives. The garments on view are an homage to how she made playfulness a serious pursuit in art.

‘When I draw, I tell a story about forms… To trace a line, a simple line, with the feeling and awareness that you are producing expression; that line is necessary to you beyond reason. To me, drawing is not simply a profession; it is the release of an intrinsic, structural energy, a joy.’—Geta Bratescu

Spread from Hauser & Wirth Publishers title ‘Geta Brătescu: Game of Forms’

Geta Brătescu, Desen cu ochii închiși (Drawing with the eyes closed), 1994 © The Estate of Geta Brătescu. Courtesy the Estate of Geta Brătescu, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest and Hauser & Wirth

In her seven-decade career, Brătescu also published a number of books documenting her daily studio activities and personal experiences of art and travel. ‘Geta Brătescu: Game of Forms’ by Hauser & Wirth Publishers features important series from the past decade, during which time Brătescu focused predominantly on working with the line as a structuring principle. The carefully selected body of works included in the book is presented alongside excerpts from the artist’s diaries dating from 2008 to 2017. She writes, ‘When I draw, I tell a story about forms… To trace a line, a simple line, with the feeling and awareness that you are producing expression; that line is necessary to you beyond reason. To me, drawing is not simply a profession; it is the release of an intrinsic, structural energy, a joy.’ This is exemplified in the video work ‘The Gesture, The Drawing’ from 2018, on view as part of the presentation.

–
‘Geta Brătescu x Albert Kriemler. A Collaboration’ at Hauser & Wirth Publishers Headquarters and ‘Geta Brătescu. The Gesture, The Drawing’ at Hauser & Wirth Rämistrasse are on view 22 October – 12 December 2020. These presentations coincide with the major exhibition ‘Geta Brătescu – L’art c’est un jeu sérieux’ at Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, on view until 15 November 2020 before traveling to GL Strand in Copenhagen in January 2021.