Beat Zoderer has created an exceptional body of work that enjoys an outstanding position in the current international spectrum of constructive approaches. In his objects, sculptures, paintings and installations, he forever comes up with refreshingly original variations on Geometric Abstraction. His multifaceted oeuvre cannot be pigeonholed. Like the representatives of Concrete Art, he has no desire to depict or narrate anything, but his works have little in common with their rigid ideals. Instead of focussing on mathematical perfection and order, he creates his works intuitively and with a nonchalant pragmatism.

For a long time, Zoderer found the material for his art in banal everyday life: initially among bulky rubbish put out on the streets or in waste containers, later in stationery shops or hardware stores. He arranged set pieces from discarded objects, as well as simple office supplies such as envelopes, adhesive labels and folders, to produce wittily inventive compositions. By transforming practical everyday objects into art, Zoderer lends them an aura of distinction. This is done, though, without robbing the objects of their down-to-earth quality, because a second glance at latest reveals that the artist is operating with the simplest of everyday articles.

Zoderer’s most recent works, which also include brightly coloured paintings, impress with their highly dynamic construction, which always aims to suggest movement and define space. He creates the appearance of depth in his paintings by means of overlapping lines and grid structures, as well as with interfering colours that mingle to create new colour values.

With their great humour and verve, Beat Zoderer’s works succeed in recalibrating the way we behold the material world of consumer goods, together with the sublime ideals of art. Extending throughout the whole museum, the exhibition provides an overview of his oeuvre covering the last forty years, with around sixty works in various media – from his rubbish objects of the 1980s to his reliefs and serial compositions using office and craft materials, to his current paintings.