Museum gallery

Exhibition until April 20, 2025

Tatjana Stoffel

Tatjana Stoffel

Lebensfäden
Threads of life
Fils de la vie

Vernissage | October 19, 2024
16.00 to approx. 21.00 hrs

Exhibition until April 20, 2025

In my artistic work I follow the processual expression

based on a "sentience experience", an impression, a "flirt", within the environment and mood in which I currently find myself or a topic that has occupied me for some time.

The artistic focus lies in the direct expressionist expression of the choice of colors and materials, and a tendency can be seen in the handling of the strokes and brushstrokes. Archetypes from mythology, symbolic figures and beings as well as subconscious aspects of the psyche are thus visualized and find personified artistic expression through the most diverse materials and painting media.

Threads of life have their origin in our ancestors. They influence our life, our way of living, our behavior, some preferences. Threads of life can be close/near each other, or they can span worlds/cultures.

In Tatjana Stoffel's case, it is the threads between Europe and America, between the indigenous cultures of North America and the art/architecture of Spain - shaped by her two grandmothers and grandfathers as well as her parents - all strong personalities.

The balancing act between these influences is expressed in Tatyana's artistic work in the diversity of her forms of expression: in her paintings, drawings, objects, ritual objects, in all areas of art/crafts/design.

Inner passages, transits, transitions - supported by the rituals of indigenous cultures and her background (training in ritual medicine/ process-oriented psychology/ art/ yoga) - accompany Tatyana's work. And behind everything is always the big question that accompanies her life: Where do I come from, where am I going?

Just as our ancestors stand at the beginning of our lives, transience and death stand at the end of every life. Tatjana comes from a textile dynasty that was founded in the 18th century by her great-great-grandfather and was instrumental in building up the textile industry in St. Gallen. At the beginning of the 21st century, the textile business was discontinued for economic reasons. The circle - the wheel - has come full circle. The artist makes this transience visible in the "memories", the "legacies", the "remnants", which she places in a new context. She shows this in installations and objects, recycles textile fashion and brings it back to life.

The tire of a wheel is held by the spokes,
but the emptiness between them is what makes sense when using them. Vessels are formed from wet clay,
but the emptiness in them makes it possible to fill the jars. Doors and windows are made from wood,
but the emptiness in them makes the house habitable. So what is visible is useful,
but the essentials remain invisible.

Lao Tzu

Tradition is not the worship of ashes,
but the passing on of the fire

Further information

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