Pascal Murer

The Bally Foundation was moved by Pascal Murer’s profound understanding of the natural world in which he immerses himself, and his skill in capturing light and movement that he renders with meticulous delicacy.

Pascal Murer was born in Altdorf, Switzerland, in 1966. Influenced by his sculptor father, he began his artistic career at a very young age. He studied sculpture with masters Joannis Avramidis and Michelangelo Pistoletto at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria, where he received his Sculpture Degree in 1995.

Pascal Murer has had several group and solo exhibitions throughout Switzerland, Austria and New York (United States). In 2011, Pascal Murer was named the Bally Artist of the Year. He also received a grant from the Förderungsbeitrag der Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Heinrich Danioth, Switzerland, in 2013. He currently lives in Minusio, Switzerland, and works in Locarno, Switzerland.

Pascal Murer’s work is characterized by a deep familiarity with the natural world, his endless source of inspiration and vital energy. Both his charcoal and ink drawings and his bronze or wood sculptures capture and reflect the tension of the fleeting moment.

He eliminates the superfluous, making visible what he perceives present in the raw state of his materials. Light plays a vital role in Murer’s works. His sculptures seem to be reaching towards the source of light like flowers or trees, or revealing it through fissures to create evocative transparencies. The interaction of the material with light represents truth, the essence of the balance visible in the artist’s ability to translate the glow of intuition into the conception of his work.

"Grande fleur" is a lyrical, almost poetic bronze sculpture created by the artist in 2013 and acquired by The Bally Foundation following the Bally Artist Award win in 2011. It represents the blossoming of a flower and is composed of interwoven segments crossed by furrows that capture light. The rhythmic curves contrast dramatically with the perpendicular lines, the sculpture’s glow expresses the artist’s thunderous creative force.