Bastian Oldhouse

A former engineer living in the fast lane, Bastian Oldhouse is a Swiss painter, writer 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.
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 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 masterpieces i...

06.2026: AT: Vienna, Steiner Gallery, twin
03.2026: IT Venice: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello collective
11.2024: CH Solothurn (St.Niklaus): Castle “Waldegg” solo
08.2023: CH-Zürich: Artbox, virtual
05.2023: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art Space (“Nature”) coll.
04.2023: CH-Murten/Morat: Gallery Pellegrini solo
03.2023: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art Space (“Spring”) coll.
01.2023: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art Space (“Portraits”) coll.
12.2022: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art Space, solo (32 items)
11.2022: E-Palma de Mallorca: Artbox, virtual
11.2022: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art space (“autumn”) coll.
10.2022: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art space (“Landscapes”)
09.2022: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Art space (“my best art”)
2020: CH-Aarburg: Town Hall, solo
2020: CH- Zürich: Artbox (finalist) collective
2020: E-Barcelona: Artbox virtual
2019: USA-Miami: Artbox, virtual
2019: CH-Lausanne: Swiss Artspace, collective
2019: CH-Zürich: Artbox, virtual
2019: CH-Biel/Bern: Hirslanden Clinic Linde, solo
2018: GB-London: A&D Gallery, collective
2018: F-Paris: Carrousel du Louvre, collective
2018: A-Innsbruck: Art Innsbruck, collective
2017: CH-Basel: ArtCenterBasel, collective
2016: CH-Binningen/BL: Arte Binningen, collective
2016: CH Bern: Gallery habitARTE on tour, solo.
2013: CH-Basel: Basle...