Marius Steiger

Curated by Kiki Seiler-Michalitsi

In his artistic practice, Marius Steiger (b. 1999, Bern, lives in London) explores questions of authenticity and artificiality, reality and abstraction, illusion and simulation, as well as the relationship between humans and modern technologies. This results in contradictory, often hyper-realistic visual works with a digital aesthetic that blend real narratives with fiction. Individual motifs and objects (mushrooms, flowers, fruit, planets, cars, furniture, and architecture) are created from renderings of digital 3D models, mimicking paintings and shaped canvases in the tradition of trompe l’oeil painting. In the exhibition space, these elements mutate into a holistic still life, functioning both individually and as a collective whole. Yet, through their immaculate surfaces and fragmentation, their artificiality and origins in the virtual world are revealed – reflecting the artist’s engagement with painting as a metaphor for perception and memory. The exhibition at Kunst Raum Riehen marks Marius Steiger's first institutional solo exhibition.