Gottfried Honegger

The reconciling with the wall

NewsFrom 12 May to 7 June 2012

After making his farewell to painting, Gottfried Honegger has begun reconciling himself with the wall—a task less simple than it may seem. Sculpture remains the plastic form with which Honegger is most at ease, even when it runs up against a wall. Made of painted iron, his graceful, autonomous silhouettes (as he calls them) don a shadow when Honegger adopts the wall. Some shapes evoke the letters G and O, as in his first name, Gottfried, which means “god’s peace.” So maybe therein lies his reconciliation with the wall: being at peace with his environment.

Beside this, here is what he is saying about this theme : “Today I am trying to integrate my art into the wall, into architecture itself, through open, unframed reliefs. Simply in order to recover the idea of total artwork, the global view of the world characteristic of Gothic period. For me, it’s a question of rendering visible the artificial environment in which we live. Architecture, interior design, fashion, food, and so on should all be one entity. And yet we should not forsake the visual diversity to which we are accustomed. I am not seeking a specific style, because what we need now is a holistic culture of beauty, diversity, and truth.”

For Gottfried, achieving harmony with the environment is always a timely affair, because the art he promotes (having donated his collection to France)—like the art he makes—remains close to humanity.
It takes on many, varied forms in functional applications, both urban and artistic, such as design. Honegger’s art is a font of inspiration, an original source, his very own credo.

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Gottfried Honegger. The reconciling with the wall