Beat Zoderer
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, 1955
Lives and works in Wettingen, Switzerland
Beat Zoderer predominantly uses everyday materials as a basis for his work. The artist sources his materials from general hardware stores. Rather than altering them, Zoderer makes use of these materials within what at first appears to be methodical structures based on repetition or mathematical systems. However this is a deception, as each piece allows for an arbitrary element. During the largely spontaneous process of creating works,
Beat Zoderer is guided by an attempt to create order in chaos. To facilitate this he sometimes draws on the formal language of historic works of geometric abstraction. The complexity of each piece consciously allows for imperfections and mistakes. It is this self-contradicting and ambiguous quality of the works that gives them the playfulness that probably best characterises the artist and his work.
Biography
Beat Zoderer was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1955 and lives and works in Wettingen, Switzerland, and Genoa, Italy. He served as an assistant to Prof. Peter Jenny at ETH Zurich in 1986. Zoderer predominantly uses everyday materials sourced from hardware stores as the basis for his work. Rather than altering them, he employs these materials within what at first appear to be methodical structures based on repetition or mathematical systems; however, each piece allows for an arbitrary element. Guided by an attempt to create order in chaos, he sometimes draws on the formal language of historic works of geometric abstraction. The complexity of each piece consciously allows for imperfections and mistakes, lending the work a self-contradicting and ambiguous quality.
Zoderer has exhibited widely across Europe, the Americas, and Japan, with solo presentations at institutions including Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm; Neues Museum, Nürnberg; Haus der Kunst, Solothurn; and Kunstmuseum Bonn. He has shown with Bartha Contemporary on several occasions. His work is held in public collections including the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, Berlin; Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch; Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt; Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; and FRAC Île-de-France, Paris, among others. Awards include the Aargauer Kulturpreis of the AZ-Medien Gruppe (2009) and the Manor-Kunstpreis, Kanton Aargau (1995). A documentary film about his work, directed by Jürg Egli, won Best Essay at the Festival International du Film sur l'Art, Montreal, in 2018.
Related Journals
Available Works
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, #GR, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
102 × 102 × 2.2 cm
40 ⅛ × 40 ⅛ × ⅞ in
Sold
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, G5, No. 1, 2025
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
102 × 102 × 2.2 cm
40 ⅛ × 40 ⅛ × ⅞ in
Sold
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU, #T, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on canvas, stretched on wood panel
80 × 60 × 2.2 cm
31 ½ × 23 ⅝ × ⅞ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, G3, No. 12, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2025
Acrylic on MDF Panel
51 × 47 × 2 cm
20 ⅛ × 18 ½ × ¾ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU (#2), (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on MDF Panel
51 × 47 × 2 cm
20 ⅛ × 18 ½ × ¾ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU (#3), (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on MDF Panel
51 × 47 × 2 cm
20 ⅛ × 18 ½ × ¾ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, #l, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 × 1.2 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ × ½ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, #r, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 × 1.2 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ × ½ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Haiku, #kl, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2026
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
41 × 31 × 1 cm
16 ⅛ × 12 ¼ × ⅜ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU, G2, #4, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2025
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU, G2, #5B, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2025
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU, G2, #5A, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2025
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
HAIKU, G2, #6, (Dreischichtiges konkretes Aquarell), 2025
Acrylic on wood panel, with artist's frame
51 × 41 cm
20 ⅛ × 16 ⅛ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Six-Zack No. 14/20, 2020
Acrylic on board
143 × 103 cm
56 ¼ × 40 ½ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Studie zu OP No.1 V.II auf vier Lagen, 2006
Acrylic paint on metal in wood frame
100 × 85 × 16 cm
39 ⅜ × 33 ½ × 6 ¼ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Farborgel No. 1/5, 2023
Handwoven Velvet Yarn
180 × 240 × 1 cm
70 ⅞ × 94 ½ × ⅜ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Resttektur on paper, 2022
Varnished Acrylic paint on tapes mounted on museum-board
50 × 47 cm
19 ⅝ × 18 ½ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Tektur on paper, 2022
Acrylic paint on paper
38 × 34 cm
15 × 13 ⅜ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Faltungen Lila, 2003
Coloured tracing paper and tracing paper mounted on museum board
28 × 21 cm
11 × 8 ¼ in
Price on request
Beat Zoderer
Faltungen Grün, 2003
Coloured tracing paper and tracing paper mounted on museum board
28 × 21 cm
11 × 8 ¼ in
Price on request
Publications
Shows / News archive
Previous Shows
Beat Zoderer _ Haiku
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A Place to Look Again
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Sequential Gestures II_Serial Approaches in Contemporary Art
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Malene Birger, Florian Baudrexel and Beat Zoderer_A joint showcase by Bartha_contemporary and Wellwood Gallery
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The Green New Deal
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ANOTHER, Ethan Cook, Henrik Eiben, Beat Zoderer
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Beat Zoderer - The London Soap Opera
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Beat Zoderer - Faltungen und andere Ereignisse
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Beat Zoderer - New Space | New Work
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REFLEX II - The Brain Closer Than The Eye
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