MUSEUM RITTER - Rita Ernst

The title 17. Oktober V, (October 17 V) does not mark a historical date, but rather a day in 1994 relevant to the creation of this painting by Rita Ernst. The work V is assembled in a checkerboard from like-size squares in clear color alternating with grey. The edges of the individual squares are marked with bars of differing lengths. Despite the limitation to only a few individual elements, no square is exactly like another.
The basis of Ernst’s creation is a strictly systematic approach: Some fundamental elements are developed and then combined with each other according to strict principles. The images themselves emerge through the connection to individual building blocks.
In terms of approach, Rita Ernst’s work is closely related to Concrete Art. But unlike the work of Richard Paul Lohse, for example, intuition and coincidence supervene as equal partners to rationality in her painting design. She therefore refers to the objectivity of the utilized rules without neglecting and setting subjective accents.


1956		born in Windisch, Switzerland
1972-76		Kunstgewerbeschule Basel
1982		Studio residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
1990-95		Member of the Collections Commission of the Zurich Kunstgesellschaft, Kunsthaus Zurich
1996		1. Trevi Flash Art Museum prize, Trevi, Italy Lives and works in Zurich and Bevagna, Italy