“the self is another” – This famous quotation by French poet Arthur Rimbaud shaped Marcel Mayer (until 2006 Marcel Göhring). In his artistic work he use different imagery from phantastic up to photo-realistic to investigate the area of conflict among individual identity and collective narrative. His interest are archives, contemporary history and the wide fund of popular culture, from Tarot to mushrooms and press-pictures or technical inventions, edited in books, posters or free graphic artwork. Manual Printmaking is thereby an independent artistic medium and much more than just reproduction. The works are determined by the particular technic and material – carved into wood- or linoplates, scratched, engraved or etched into copperplates, drawn on lithographic stone or composed with letterpress material. During the creation process they arise gradually, often in series, sometimes changed and variated in different versions – same as the “self” by Rimbaud.
Marcel Mayer
Bläsiring 48
CH-4057 Basel
mail(at)marcelmayer.ch
A grant from swiss located „Atelier Mondial“ gave me the opportunity to spent six months in Armenia during 2017. Ravished by a great cultural heritage and the historical past, which is present in daily live and contemporary art scene, i visited the country frequently until march 2020, before the global pandemy made travelling impossible.
The title „Land of Plenty“ is a reference to this opulence. The book starts with a series of 14 linocuts which now are edited in 59 copies in the special edition. It contains visuals and texts dedicated to a wide range of topics, from the unprocessed genocide in the Ottoman empire to the legacy of Sovjet Union until the latest „Velvet Revolution“ and the start of military battles in summer 2020. The disputed „Autonomous Republic Karabakh“, which i visited twice, ist also reported.
Exact ten days after the publication of the first edition the Azerbaijan army startet a military attack against Karabakh. In the shadow of the global pandemy and the US presidential elections the worlds attention was little to the actual tragedy in southern caucasus. In the eventful history of Armenia is today written a new chapter with open results, to its understanding this publication wants to contribute. It is dedicated to an international audience and therefore published in two laguages (german/english). You can download for free a digital version of the book here.
The second edition of the printed version is produced with great accurateness and supplemented by an endnote. This edition will be released in march 2021 and you can order it here.
14th Dec. 2019, opening of the exhibition IMPRESSIONEN, Kunsthaus Grenchen, Switzerland. I consider the TAROT as a timeless “cosmic comic strip”. The first part, the 22 trump cards, I realised in 1996 as big sice linocuts. Recently I finished the project by creating the rest of the cards and edited the entire set (see book and editions).
15th Sept. 2019, closing event of The Visual History Lab at the Centre for African Studies, a yearly learning format. 2019 is concerned with the William Kentridge exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Museum für Gegenwartskunst) in Basel. We explored how 20th century South African history is addressed in Kentridge’s oeuvre, and situate him as an artist in the politics and aesthetics of South African artistic production.
11th Oct. 2018, Armenian Centre for Experimental and Contemporary Art (ACEA/NPAK), Yerevan, a cultural center which I came across during my stay in 2017. Swiss federal Councillor Alain Berset visited the place on the occasion of the “Festival of Francophonie” in 2018.
21th Nov. 2018, visit of South African artist Linoel Davis at druckwerk
17th Nov. 2017, Armenian Centre for Experimental and Contemporary Art (ACEA/NPAK), Yerevan, Opening of the exhibition „The Timeline Puzzle“. Fotography by Ed Tadevossian
29th Oct. 2017, Pesentation of the results of the Linocut-Workshop, Tumo Analog Center at Mirzoyan-Library, Yerevan. Fotography by Ed Tadevossian
25th Sept. 2017, Tumo-Analog Center, Puskin-Street, Yerevan, first day of the Linocut-Workshop. Fotography by Ed Tadevossian
30th July 2017, Start of Residency in Armenia, “first contact”: Printing by hand at Vernissage Park, Yerevan, Fotography by Arman Vahanian
21th March 2017, Arman Vahanyan is artist in residence from Yerevan, Armenia. He worked from january to march at Druckwerk. For his exhibition we design and print together this letterpress-poster. Fotography by Margarit Lehmann