AroundSpace Gallery is honored to present Swiss artist Marcel Gähler’s first solo exhibition in China, Light in the Moment, showcasing the artist’s works in the last two decades.

Born in Zurich, Marcel Gähler received his art education at the Academy of Arts in his hometown. He has been exhibited frequently in Europe, as well as in Asia and North America. Influenced by a strong figurative art tradition in German-speaking regions, Gähler’s art features highly skilled draftsmanship, narrative images and a reserved, exquisite precision.

In his 2013 Paris series, Gähler used watercolor to render details of renowned architecture such as Notre Dame de Paris on small-sized paper, as if excerpts from an epic. In another 2012 oil painting, 2012 (O_2012_02), he captured a corner of an attic or some other interior, recreating a scene perhaps from deep in our memory. Between 2016 and 2022, using pencil as medium, Gähler meticulously recorded trees, castles, seascapes, snapshots of people or abstract patterns on paper, with calculated compositions and a nostalgia touch. The blurriness in these Daguerreotype-like images may remind the viewer Gerhard Richter’s early photo-painting. Yet unlike Richter’s ambition of representing historical or social events, Gähler’s art focuses on more personal experiences and memories, like a whisper talking about the old days; furthermore, he uses serene and precise lines to capture the most undetectable emotions and déjà vu images, giving the viewer the impression of flipping through a family album.

Gähler’s art can be mysterious and intimate. One of his drawings was selected by Shanghai-based thriller writer Na Duo for the inside cover of his latest book, I Came to the World. The author felt the images perfectly served his purpose and commented, "(W)hen you finish the book you will find the piece with great meaning."

Light is as essential to everything in the world as it is to art. Gähler is not the first, nor the last artist who either pursues light or tries to recreate light in their art works. What seems most valuable and unique in Gähler’s art is that he has the ability to capture the precise light in the exact moment, as well as the right vibe and atmosphere. It is Gähler’s personal reference and it is also ours. It is the light in the moment and in every moment.