Swiss artist’s obsessive paintings of alien Madonnas and romping nudes

HYPERALLERGIC
By Claire Voon
Hans Schärer, various Madonnas from mid 1970s
For over two decades, the Swiss artist Hans Schärer focused on painting the female figure, transforming conventional depictions of women into highly unexpected forms. Beginning in the early 1960s, he danced between creating a series of over 100 vibrant Madonnas — each with slim resemblance to the religious Mary — and one of over 150 highly eroticized, fantastical scenes that edge the female nude towards the realm of pornography. These two groups literally come face-to-face in "Hans Schärer: Madonnas and Erotic Watercolors" at the Swiss Institute, the first solo exhibition of Schärer’s work in the United States. [link]


Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art: "Hans Schärer: Madonnas and Erotic Watercolors" (Ends February 7, 2016); 18 Wooster Street, New York, NY; (212)925-2035; swissinstitute.net
Hans Schärer, “Untitled” (1971) (courtesy Swiss Institute)