LEVISSIMA, 2019
Acrylics and silkscreen ink on linen
56cm x 82cm

CORPORATE REALISM
Solo show at Unanimous Consent, Zürich CH
March 01 - April 18, 2021

Text: Ilona Stutz
Photos: Michal Florence Schorro

Exhibition views CORPORATE REALISM
Unanimous Consent, Zürich CH 2021

POLAND SPRING, 2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

THONON, 2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

TIBET SPRING, 2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

EPTINGER, 2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

إفران
2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

아이시스, 2020
Acrylics, silkscreen ink and gesso on linen
70cm x 125cm

Exhibition text:

The scent of a flower
the babbling of the brook
the rustling of the mouse
a pine forest

Landscape.

It certainly is a privilege to access it as an untargeted experience of nature. As a fabric, a material with physical and metaphorical qualities. Taking a stroll in it, contemplating oneself; dissolving in it or reflecting oneself. To feast on its wordlessness.
Landscape.

The farmer may recognize in it the fertility of the soil, the commuter the way to a destination, the real estate mogul the potential for living space, the geostrategist the location of resources.
Thomas Moor spent two years painting logos and labels of mineral water brands from all over the world. He spent two years looking at landscape through the lens of the water advertising industry, brushing it onto canvas and thus humorously revealing an eco-territorial perspective on it.
Would we say Moor was ‚painting landscape‘ during this period?
And would we claim that the depiction of landscape through the painting of countless logos and labels was ‚realistic‘?
In a 1921 essay, a man named Roman Jakobson attempted a definition of ‚realism‘ as „a current of art with the aim of rendering reality as unadulterated as possible by striving for maximum probability.“ According to his notion, it is not ‚the real‘ that is the reference point of realist art, but those constructs that guide the historical, changing understanding of reality.

Based on this still relevant definition, Corporate Realism brings to mind how our view is shaped through the lens of the advertising industry. Mineral water brands make use of a stylized image of nature through which they metaphorically charge their product – a product which is usually extracted from landscapes entirely different from those depicted. The activities of such corporations subtly shape both our concept of ‚landscape‘ and the actual landscapes themselves from which they draw their resources.
So much ‚realism‘ is hard to bear in itself. The question then is whether we can afford an uninformed and romanticized gaze on landscape at all, provided we want to preserve it – in whatever sense of the word.
Moor‘s activity does not resolve these questions. Instead, he paints his way through them label by label. Too many for it to be the work of a cynic. Rather, one finds in his doing a tireless willingness to grasp the world in its complexity over and over again.
- Ilona Stutz

Exhibition view GEOGRAFíA ACCIDENTAL, Duo show with María Edith Pereira, Kiosko Galeria, Santa Cruz BO 2022
GLACIAR, 130cm x 150cm, SPERANZA, 90cm x 100cm, SAN MATEO, 101cm x 152cm
All 2022, acrylics on canvas

EVIAN, KNUTBÜHLER WENIG, ELMER, FLAUDER, SPAR, SWISSALPINA, ADELBODNER PREMIUM, VALAIS SILVER, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen on canvas
(Floor work in front: Gina Proenza & Ruben Valdez)

Exhibition views PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT, group show at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen CH, curated by Giovanni Carmine

August 17 - October 13, 2019
Photo: Gunnar Meier

Installation view PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT, 2019
Sculpture in front: Kaspar Ludwig
Photo: Gunnar Meier

Installation view PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT, 2019
Floor work: Gina Proenza & Ruben Valdez, right back wall: Josse Bailly
Photos: Gunnar Meier

CRISTAL, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
42cm x 65cm, artist frame

VALAIS, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
76cm x 80cm, artist frame

ALPINA, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
51cm x 62cm, artist frame

COORS LIGHT, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
62cm x 51cm, artist frame

VALSER SILENCE, 2019
Acrylics on canvas
72cm x 41cm, artist frame

CRISTALP, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
50cm x 63cm, artist frame

EVIAN, 2019
Acrylics on canvas
41cm x 62cm, artist frame

SPAR, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
61cm x 106cm, artist frame

BAKURIANI, 2019
Acrylics and silk screen ink on linen
54cm x 76cm, artist frame
Exhibition view FOLOWERS, group show at Binz39, Zürich CH 2019
Photos: Crunchy Claud