Selected works

Exhibitions

Biography

Artist's information

Selected publications

 

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  • Nic Hess
    Ohne Titel, 2011

    Felt pen, paper and pencil on paper
    Frame 52.6 x 82.5 x 2.5 cm

    HESS50604

  • Nic Hess

    Buppentheater, 2019

    Collage
    79 x 80.5 cm

    HESS95875

  • HESS11587 1 mail

    Nic Hess
    Flower-Guitar-Wheel, 2013

    Nineteen used, untuned guitars, steel construction, motor, 4.5V battery, cogwheels
    Ca. 260 x 260 x 200 cm

    HESS11587

  • HESS 2006 walls muri

    Walls/Muri

    2006

    Edition Fondazione Bevilacqua, Venice

    110 pp., colour

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • Biography English  Biografie Deutsch

     

    born 1968 in Zurich. Lives and works in Zurich.

    Education

    1992-1996
    Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
    Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, DE

     


    Solo exhibitions (selected)

    2024
    Talking to me?!, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH
    (Noch ohne Titel), Curuna Ardez, Ardez, CH

    2022
    FERDINAND, Philipp von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, DE

    2019
    Neue Arbeiten, Ziegler Galerie, Zurich, CH

    2018
    Mit und ohne Bart, Philipp von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, DE

    2016
    Zulieferer unter Druck, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, DE

    2015
    Der Stoff aus dem die Träume waren, Kunsthalle Münster, DE
    Grosser Fahrplan für eine kleine Stadt, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH

    2014
    highways and byways. together again, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE
    Archivo teatralico, Figge von Rosen Galerie, Berlin, DE

    2012
    The Birds (For Lilou), Swiss Institute, New York, US
    AGGLOBAL – Chutes and Ladders, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH

    2011
    Season's Greetings, Figge von Rosen Galerie, Berlin, DE
    Silberpfeil, Mercedes Benz Museum, Stuttgart, DE

    2009
    Automatic Crash Response, Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, US
    Dont Sorry, Figge von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, DE
    Escape, Schloß Ringenberg, Hamminkeln, DE
    Fly a Dragon Kite, NEON parallax, Place de Plainpalais, FMAC and FCAC, Geneva, CH

    2008
    Sculptures, The Project, New York, US

    2007
    Trader Joe and Albert’s son, Figge von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, DE
    Food4Less, Museo de Zapopan, Guadalajara, ME
    I would eat them anywhere, Arndt & Partner, Zurich, CH
    Positions, Figge von Rosen Galerie, ART Basel/Miami, Miami, US

    2006
    Early Bird, Galerie Jesco von Puttkamer, Berlin, DE
    Wall, Muri (with Frederico Herrero), Fondazione Bevilacqua, Venezia, IT
    Rice-Fields and Bushes, Casa del lago, Mexico City, MX
    Icons will survive / Wände haben Ohren, Media Center of the Swiss Government, Bern, CH

    2005
    Dreaming of el A, MC Gallery, The Project, Los Angeles, US
    Pic Nic Hess, Projectile Gallery, New York, US
    A room with a window, ADN Galeria, Barcelona, ES

    2004
    Guten Morgen Deutschland, Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE
    Triple Treat (with Yoshua Okon), The Project, Los Angeles, US

    2003
    Who Bites First? Viafarini, Milano, IT
    I want to get married again, Modern Art Inc., London, UK
    Logo (with Francis Baudevin and Mathieu Mercier), Swiss Institute, New York, US
    Berlin – New York (with Emmanuelle Antille), Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, CH

    2002
    Wallow (with Julie Mehretu), The Project, New York, US
    NYCS, Galerie griedervonputtkamer, Berlin, DE
    To the MANOR born, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, CH
    Ola de cola, OPA (Officina de Proyectos de Arte) Guadalajara, MX
    On the Spot, Kiosk, Bern, CH

    2001
    Quiero Casarme, The Project, New York, US
    Well Done, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
    Art Statements, Serge Ziegler Galerie, ART BASEL 32, Basel, CH

    2000
    Dolly II, Kunstwerke, Berlin, DE
    it’s a men’s world, Serge Ziegler Galerie, Zurich, DE
    Swinging Swindle, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York, US
    Stadionneubau, Galerie griedervonputtkamer, Berlin, DE
    Together now, The Drawing Center, New York, US
    Nic Hess, Galerie griedervonputtkamer, Berlin, DE

    1999
    Transit 21 – Projekt Durchbruch (Komporomiss nach Eiland), (collaboration with Kerim Seiler), Kunsthalle, St. Gallen, CH

    1998
    ohne Tiere, Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich, CH
    mit Tiere, Galerie Serge Ziegler, Zurich, CH

    1997
    Mosaik des Fernfahrers, ’Space’ Ankerstrasse, Zurich, CH

    1996
    Race dogs just starting, Arena Amsterdam, NL

     

     

    Group exhibitions (selected)

    2022
    Last words from the Periphery II, Werkerei Schwamendingen, Zurich, CH

    2020
    Sommer des Zögerns/Summer of Suspense, Kunsthalle Zurich, CH
    Made in Zurich, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH

    2019
    Make Zurich small again, Kupper Modern, Zurich, CH

    2018
    Ladenschluss, Neue Norden Zurich, CH
    Works from a Private Collection, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH

    2015
    Toys Redux – On Play and Critique, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, CH
    Spaceliner, ARTER, Istanbul, TR

    2013
    Novecento mai visto – Highlights from the Daimler Collection – From Albers to Warhol (to now),
    Museo Santa Giulia, Brescia, IT
    BUNT!, Gluri Suter Haus, Wettingen, CH
    sitzen, gehen, stehen, (f)liegen, Kunstverein KISS Kunst im Schloss Untergröningen e.V.,
    Untergröningen, DE
    Westwärts..., Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH

    2012
    Football, Marco Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, MX

    2011
    Start. Reloaded, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH
    Fuerzas Basicas, Museo de la Ciudad, Guadalajara, MX
    Art, Stars & Cars, Mercedes-Benz Museum, Daimler Kunst Sammlung, Stuttgart, DE

    2010
    Pictures about Pictures, curated by Dr. Renate Wiehager, MUMOK – Museum Moderner Kunst in
    Wien, AT
    Voici un dessin suisse, Musée Rath, Geneva, CH

    2008
    Flow, Centro Cultural Andratx, Majorca, ES
    Balls and Brains, Helmhaus Zurich, CH
    minimal funktional. Highlights aus der Daimler Kunst Sammlung, Museum im Kulturspeicher
    Würzburg, DE

    2007
    Minimalism and applied I, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE
    The New Vernacular. Contemporary art meets popular culture, Paul Klee Center, Bern, CH
    Zeichen der Bewegung, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon, CH
    Branding, Centre Pasquart, Biel, CH
    Visioni del Paradiso, Istituto Svizzero, Roma, IT
    Start!, Grieder Contemporary, Zurich, CH
    All the Best – the Deutsche Bank Collection, Singapore Art Museum, SGP
    Piktogramme – Die Einsamkeit der Zeichen, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, DE

    2005
    Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM Karlsruhe, DE
    Grafische Sammlung ETH Zürich, Helmhaus Zurich, CH

    2004
    Gegen den Strich, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, DE
    Lasko (collaboration with Sebastian Sieber), Centre d’Art Neuchâtel (CAN), Neuchâtel, CH

    2003
    Buenos Dias Buenos Aires. Arte Contemporaneo Suizo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, RA
    The Squared Circle, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
    Urban Diaries: Young Swiss Art, Alcalá 31, Contemporary Art Center, Madrid, ES

    2002
    Im Zeichen der Bewegung, Kunstmuseum, Bern, CH
    Ikonen. Kunst und Kult, Coninx Museum, Zurich, CH
    Center of Attraction, 8th Baltic Biennial, Vilnius, LV
    Culture meets Culture, Busan Biennal, Busan, KO
    Thisplay, JUMEX-Collection, Mexico City, ME
    Wallow (collaboration with Julie Mehretu), The Project, New York, US
    Listening to New Voices, PS.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, US

    2001
    Casino 2001, 1st Quadrennial of Contemporary Art, S.M.A.K., BE
    Stedelijk Museum voor actuele Kunst, Gent, BE
    Milano Europa 2000, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano, IT
    Let’s be friends, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, CH

    2000
    Cahiers d’artistes, CentrePasquArt, Biel, Stiftung Pro Helvetia, CH
    Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, Kunsthalle FriArt, Fribourg, CH
    Out of space, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH
    On the Spot, Kiosk Bern, CH
    Premio Michetti, Fondazione Michetti, Francavilla al Mare (Chiete), IT

    1999
    Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, Kunsthalle, Zurich, CH
    peace für Frieden, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, CH
    Werk-und Atelierstipendien der Stadt Zürich, Helmhaus, Zurich, CH

    1998
    Freie Sicht auf Mittelmeer, Kunsthaus, Zürich, CH; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, DE
    The Pallidhouse, W139, Amsterdam, NL
    Trophy, Binz 39, Zurich, CH

     


    Prizes and awards

    2010
    Studio grant Landis & Gyr, London, UK

    2009
    NEON, Place de Planpalais, Geneva, CH

    2006
    Summer Academy Paul Klee Center, Bern, CH

    2002
    Manor Art Prize, Zurich canton, CH

    2001
    Studio Program P.S.1, L.I.C., New York, US
    Grant, City of Zurich, CH
    Cantrade-Kunstpreis, Kulturstiftung, CH

    2000
    Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, CH
    Grant, City of Zurich, CH

    1999
    Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst, CH

    1998
    Studio grant, Stiftung Binz 39, CH

  •  

    Artist's Website

    http://www.nichess.ch

     

    Selected Institutional Exhibitions

    2024 (Noch ohne Titel), Curuna Ardez, Ardez, CH

    2020  Sommer des Zögerns/Summer of Suspense, Kunsthalle Zurich, CH

    2016  Zulieferer unter Druck, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, DE

    2015  Der Stoff aus dem die Träume waren, Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, DE

    2012  The Birds (For Lilou), Swiss Institute, New York (US)

    2009  Automatic Crash Response, Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (US) 

    2006  Walls, Muri (with Frederico Herrero), Fondazione Bevilacqua, Venezia (IT)

     

    Selected Texts/Press/Video Documentation

    Christoph Doswald, 51 views of Mount Matterhorn (2001) 

    Robert Summers, Hess: Drawing-Installation  (2009)

     

     

     

     

  • Press Release English Pressetext Deutsch

    Opening hours:
    Wednesday – Friday 11–18
    Saturday 11–17
    and by prior arrangement

     

    Nic Hess's exhibition Grosser Fahrplan für eine kleine Stadt (Big timetable for a small town) finds the artist looking back on more than 20 years of creative activity. It also finds him providing access, for the first time, to the activity underlying the drawing installations with which he has made his name. On display are works created between 1985 and the present day.

    Nic Hess is known for his stirring, dramatic decorations of walls and interior spaces, which he covers with gestural ciphers and pictures – here playfully dynamic, there with irony. His iconographic repertoire includes familiar emblems from our consumer society and images from the collective consciousness, which he combines with works from art history and pop culture. He spins the resulting narrative thread as he will and leaves the interpretation to the spectator's imagination.

    Grosser Fahrplan für eine kleine Stadt finds Hess granting access to the extensive archive from which he draws inspiration for these sensational facades. The title of the exhibition is taken from one of the artist's first drawing installations, created exactly 20 years ago in the spring of 1995. As demonstrated by the systematic lines linking individual points, the exhibition experiments with a diagrammatic archiving system that reproduces the various stages in Nic Hess’s oeuvre and makes them newly readable.
    The presentation comprises a selection of the artist's earlier, free and partly unfinished drawings, plus project sketches and their transformation into works in their own right. Grosser Fahrplan für eine kleine Stadt is an illustrative portrayal of the materialisation of Hess’s world of ideas: sometimes raw, sometimes refined and fragile, it shows that his talent and urge to draw have always been at the root of his artistic creativity. Nic Hess positions the individual works in a variety of blocks and groupings, creating as he does so a space-consuming installation, whimsically devising at the same time the phrasing of his own creative history, which began in the mid-eighties. The fact that he is raising the veil on his most private works in his home town, of all places, is no coincidence.

    Nic Hess (*1968) studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam and the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. His installations have been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe, the USA and Mexico, including at the Haus der Kunst, Munich (2004), Casa del Lago, Mexico City (2006) and Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2009). Nic Hess has received numerous awards and grants, including Switzerland's prestigious Eidgenössischer Preis für freie Kunst (1999/2000), the Manor Kunstpreis (Canton Zurich – 2002), a MoMA PS1 grant (New York – 2001) and a Landis & Gyr studio grant (London – 2010). In 2015 work by Hess is also to be seen in a solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Münster, and he is contributing a drawing installation to the Spaceliner exhibition at the Museum Arter, Istanbul. Nic Hess lives and works in Zurich.

     
  • 2015 HESS48286

    Nic Hess
    Come to Maoland, 2015

    Wood; Ed. 1/3 + 1 AP
    42 x 116 cm

    HESS48286

  • 2014 HESS DI cover

    Drawing Installations 1995–2013

    2014

    Ed. by Christian Ganzenberg, Renate Wiehager for the Daimler Art Collection
    Snoeck, Cologne

    English / German

    304 pp., 355 colour ill.

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • 2015 GC Hess Instview 06

    Nic Hess

    Grosser Fahrplan für eine kleine Stadt

    April 17 – May 30, 2015

  • 2014 4 Bebek

    Nic Hess
    Installation view:

    Drawing installations

    Café Bebek, Zurich (since 2014)

  • HESS50601

    Nic Hess
    Untitled,2013

    Paper on paper
    Frame 52.6 x 72.6 cm

    HESS50601

  • 2013 3 HESS50500

    Nic Hess
    Untitled, 2013

    Collage
    20.7 x 29.6 cm

    HESS50500

  • 2013 1 HESS Wolfsburg

    Nic Hess
    Ein Titel muss her! (Title needed!), 2013

    Self-adhesive foil
    280 x 1000 cm

  • HESS 2012 Zuerich GC 1

    Nic Hess

    Agglobal

    February 2 – March 17, 2012

  • 2012 3 HESS11182

    Nic Hess
    Swiss Reh, 2012

    Taxidermied roe, Swiss army knives
    25.5 x 28.5 x 16 cm

    HESS11182

  • 2012 2 HESS11181

    Nic Hess
    Oben Unten, 2012

    Chess pieces, trolley table
    67.5 x 67.5 x 41.3 cm

    HESS11181

  • 2012 1 Hess SI NY

    Nic Hess
    The Birds (for Lilou), 2012

    Wall paint, 2012
    650 x 1150 cm

  • 2011 Zuerich GC Start.Reloaded 1B

    START. RELOADED

    October 28, 2011 – January 21, 2012

  • 2011 HESS11184

    Nic Hess
    Schweiz (Switzerland), 2011

    Collage on paper
    66.1 x 98 x 3 cm

    HESS11184

  • 2010 HESS24914

    Nic Hess
    m&m + M=3M, 2010

    Wood and metal
    Ed. 2/3 + 1 AP
    34 x 189 x 5 cm

    HESS24914

  • 2009 HESS Los Angeles 01

    Nic Hess
    Room with a view, 2009

    Adhesive tape, wall paint, self-adhesive foil
    700 x 1000 cm

  • 2009 HESS Los Angeles 02

    Nic Hess
    Failed Banks, 2009

    Adhesive tape, wall paint, self-adhesive foil
    700 x 1200 cm

  • HESS50583

    Nic Hess
    Untitled, 2009

    Paper and adhesive tape
    Frame 130 x 91 cm

    HESS50583

  • HESS50517

    Nic Hess
    Untitled (alla Balde), 2009

    Collage
    Frame 42.5 x 32.5 cm

    HESS50517

  • 2008 1 HESS50596

    Nic Hess
    Untitled, 2008

    Transparency, gouache and paper on paper
    Frame 128.5 x 91 cm

    HESS50596

  • 2008 2 HESS50598

    Nic Hess
    Untitled, 2008

    Colour copy and paper on paper
    89.5 x 40 cm

    HESS50598

  • 2006 START instview 3

    START!

    With works by Monika Sosnowska, Thomas Kiesewetter, Monica Bonvicini, Frank Nitsche, Nic Hess, Daniel Pflumm

    June 10 - July 29, 2006

  • 2006 1 HESS Bern

    Nic Hess
    Installation view:
    Icons will survive

    Media Center of the Swiss Government, Bern (CH), 2006

  • 2006 2 HESS Kunsthaus Zuerich

    Nic Hess
    3 Saints, 2006
    Silkscreen print on adhesive foils,
    adhesive tape on acrylic glass, aluminium
    470 x 260 x 100 cm

  • 2006 3 HESS50584

    Nic Hess
    Ricefields and Bushes, 2006
    Transparency, adhesive tape, spray paint on acrylic glass
    194 x 100 cm
    HESS50584

  • 2006 4 HESS50514

    Nic Hess
    Untitled,  2006

    Foil, felt pen and whiteout on paper
    32.4 x 42.4 cm

    HESS50514

  • 2006 2013 5 HESS50579

    Nic Hess
    Untitled, 2006/2013

    Pencil, whiteout and paper on paper
    Frame 62 x 82 cm

    HESS50579

  • 2004 HESS34255

    Nic Hess
    m&m,  2004

    Lightboxes, transformer, cables
    Ed. 3/3 + 1 AP
    48 x 247 x 15 cm

    HESS34255

  • HESS50593

    Nic Hess
    Tape Ball (from: Who Bites First, Viafarini, Milano),  2003

    Adhesive tape
    11.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 cm

    HESS50593

  • 2002 HESS MexicoJumex

    Nic Hess
    Asian Diary, 2002

    Adhesive tape on acrylic plates, aluminium construction
    1000 x 5650 x 150 cm

  • 2001 HESS50509

    Nic Hess
    Tape Ball (from: Art Basel Statements),  2001

    Adhesive Tape
    ø ca. 16 cm

    HESS50509

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