Mathis Gasser: Heroes and Ghosts

Heroes and Ghosts is an ongoing series of figurative oil-on-canvas paintings by Swiss-British artist Mathis Gasser. It features ghostly (anti-)heroes and (anti-)heroines, figures and narratives of the past that abide in our collective memory, continually transformed by contemporary culture and resurfacing in all sorts of different media. Gasser removes these figures from their narrative and media contexts and transfers them to the canvas, where they stand as if frozen in mid-action.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 23 September 2021
Publisher: Edition Patrick Frey

In the midst of each painting, a solitary figure stands, facing the viewer, eerily still and, in some instances, menacing. These figures are borrowed from a diverse range of media, encompassing Hollywood blockbusters, pulp horror, science fiction, manga, and comics, as well as esoterica and works of art. Heroes and Ghosts is an ongoing series of figurative oil-on-canvas paintings by Swiss-British artist Mathis Gasser. This anthropological pictorial atlas features fictional characters, populated by ghostly (anti-)heroes and (anti-)heroines, figures and narratives from the past that reside in our collective memory, continually transformed by contemporary culture, particularly in the digital realm, at an ever-increasing pace due to growing demand. These characters are extracted from their narrative and media contexts and brought onto the canvas, where they stand as if frozen in mid-action, leaving it up to the viewer to connect the dots and discern the nature of that action.

In the stories in which they debut, these characters often embody the forces of violence, resistance, or chaos within the social order, dredging up the suppressed fears and anxieties of contemporary liberal democracies and bringing them to light. They circulate within the creative realm of the now globalized systems that birthed them, functioning as a means of cultural management of social tension, civil commotion, and revolt.

Weight: 972g
Dimension: 191 x 365 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783907236284