studio visit #4. Mireille Gros

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MIREILLE GROS
at her studio, Basel
june 2014
images © wfw

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I have read somewhere that a studio space is an intimate space, which puts the critic in an awkward position that he is no longer objective. It’s even more the case with MIREILLE GROS. MIREILLE is a Swiss artist based in Basel and she is probably one of the most engaging person in the city.

After a course of studies in Basel and New York, MIREILLE GROS (born in 1954) traveled the world drawing inspiration from the language, the local culture and the nature in each place she went, especially in China and West Africa. From these trips she has not only adapted her artistic practice by allowing more place in her work for the concept of spontaneity, random and chance but she has also brought back several processes and materials. Made of photographs, paintings, drawings and artist’s books, her body of work depicts universal configurations taking the form of mysterious plants or vegetables, micro and macrocosms.

Her studio reflects her intuitive and experimental process (although the space is very well organized) and her passion for language with a series of sentences or words written on the walls. Over cardamom coffee and the quietness of the neighborhood, MIREILLE GROS talked about her live, her uninterrupted interest in art, her upcoming exhibitions and how to not have ideas.

If you happen to be in Zürich, do not miss her solo exhibition entitled Ouvrir les Archives which presents an overview of pieces by the artist which have been collected over the past twenty years, on view at the Collection of Prints and Drawings at ETH Zurich until July 6, 2014.

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