Teh haunting imprints of memory take shape in the monumental latex works of Swiss artist Heidi Bucher (1926-1993). “The pieces are shells, they are skins. Peel off one skin after another,throw it away with what is repressed,neglected,wasted,lost,swallowed up,flattened,desolate,inverted,diluted,forgotten,persecuted,injured,” Bucher wrote,capturing the essence of her evocative art.
Bucher’s work, both melancholic and striking, has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity thanks to a 2021 retrospective in Munich, Germany. Her process was physically demanding, involving the meticulous peeling away of latex “skins” from architectural structures, leaving behind ghostly remnants. These monumental fragments, imbued with a fragile yet powerful evocative quality, become repositories of memory and poignant exorcisms. Some are even enhanced with shimmering mother-of-pearl hues.
Currently on display at the Mendes Wood DM gallery in Paris, Bucher’s work transforms spaces into haunting echoes of the past. A nine-meter-long corridor, salvaged from its original home, hangs vertically, while a spectral window appears on a blank wall. The entrance door to the Bellevue sanatorium on Lake Constance, where Sigmund freud treated his first patient, now haunts a former psychoanalyst’s office.
“The Rose of Paris,” an exhibition showcasing Bucher’s work, is on view at Mendes Wood DM, 25 Place des Vosges, Paris 4th arrondissement, until January 25, 2025.
