Jean-Frédéric Schnyder

Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Landschaft, 1990/91 (courtesy of the Swiss Institute)
Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Landschaft, 1990/91 (courtesy of the Swiss Institute)

Paddy Johnson reviews the exhibition Jean-Frédéric Schnyder: Landschaft (Landscape) I-XXXV at the Swiss Institute, New York, on view through February 26, 2012.

Johnson writes that "while Schnyder's landscapes may engage in sentimentality, they lack the preciousness that defines much of today’s kitsch. Motifs are frequently reused, the canvas size never changes, and in one instance an entire composition featuring a house on green pastures is flipped upside down and painted in sinister purples. In short, Schnyder's investment in the act of painting itself moves his practice further away from kitsch than his subject matter suggests."