Bastian Oldhouse

A former engineer living in the fast lane, Bastian Oldhouse is a Swiss painter and sculptor. With his surreal works of art, he creates metaphors. And when painting is no longer enough, he shakes things up with three-dimensional pieces.Shoevinist
The artist is not obliged to provide a standard, immediately recognizable line. The materials to be used to achieve a particular goal must also be determined before a work is started. Whether pastel chalk, carbon pencil, acrylic or oil on paper or canvas – whatever the desired effect, the appropriate material must be used. The distinctive features that make his works unmistakable are a red stiletto shoe and – invisibly embedded in the colour – a transponder (microchip) that serves as identification.

Although he would have liked to have gone to art school, he obeyed his parents instead, completing an apprenticeship as an engineering drafter, followed by a degree in engineering. Previously, he had used his limited free time to paint. Then bridges, canals and roads displaced the visual arts. His palette knives and brushes were stored away in the attic. 33 years later, at the age of 60, he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to his artistic instinct and to following the call of his passion.Art as “Craft”
“Art is always a craft.” With this declaration, he pointedly sets himself in opposition to contemporary art, which, although wholly lacking in craftsmanship, is promoted by most art experts. The slogan “Art that anyone can do is not art” may sound old-fashioned, but he is certain that “productions that mock the public will disappear again”. Fewer and fewer art lovers are willing to be taken for fools. He considers the fact that Marcel Duchamp’s so-called artwork “Fountain” (a urinal), exhibited in New York in 1917, is celebrated by certain art historians as the birth of contemporary art to be just as decadent as many contemporary artistic productions. He underlines this perspective by integrating portions of old masterpiece...

04.2011: CH- Alchenflüh/Bern – Galerie im Chalet, single.
08.2012: CH- Safnern – Eigenausstellung, single.
11.2013: CH- Basel – Basler Versicherungen, group.
01.2016: CH- Bern – Galerie habitARTE on tour single.
11.2016: CH- Binningen/Basel – Arte Binningen, group.
12.2016: CH- Jahresausstellung Bern-Jura, group.
12.2017: CH- Basel – ArtCenter Basel, group.
12.2017: CH- Le Noirmont – Annual exhibition Bern-Jura. group.
01.2018: A- Innsbruck – Art Innsbruck, group.
03.2018: USA- New York – Artbox, group.
05.2018: F- Paris – Carrousel du Louvre, group.
03.2018: USA-New-York - Art Box group.
05.2018: GB- London – A&D Gallery, group.
08.2018: CH - Zürich: - Art Box group.
08.2019: CH- Solothurn-Biberist – Papieri, group.
09.2019: CH- Biel/Bienne Hirslanden Klinik, single.
12.2019: CH- Lausanne -swissartspace, portrait, group.
12.2019: USA- Miami – Artbox group.
03.2020: E- Barcelona – Artbox, group.
04.-09. 20: CH- Aarburg – Rathaus, single.
06.2020: CH- Buchegg castle, twin.