Daniel Karrer is a Swiss artist who lives in Basel and is known for his reverse oil-on-glass paintings. I was invited to write about Karrer’s work for Pro Helvetia’s annual Cahier d’Artiste (the Liste imprint produced for the launch), back in 2015. During the process, I became fascinated by his ability to interpret the remote physicality of digital life and the scrolling image culture that feeds its content. I had been looking for an opportunity to exhibit Karrer’s work ever since and this project (originally slated for last year, but cancelled due to Covid) felt like the right fit.Much of the artist’s recent output has involved the direct application of paint onto glass, which further amplifies a sense of the screen in play. It also encompasses analogue allusions to the printed image and the physical squeegee process of screen printing.

There is a clear sense of strategic design and placement with his compositions, if one open to the influence of chance, as exactitude is not an always option given the nature of the production. It does, however, allow for a cut-and-paste aesthetic that speaks of the Dadaists’ treatment of space and its staging: the curtain, the theatrical backdrop, and nowadays, the screensaver.The imagery he chooses appears all about obfuscation, an interruption to the view – clouds, mountains, shadowy architectural recesses – the slippery weft of marks and strokes creating a panel of molten possibilities that connect the materiality of paint with that of liquid crystal display. Karrer is represented by Tony Wuethrich Gallerie, Basel.