Yves Hänggi smiles when he looks at how far he has come since studying graphic design in Bienne and what he has learned there. Basically, he explains, it’s a job where it’s about shaping and aligning, centering, calibrating. Today, he likes the possibility of being free, of letting himself be guided by the chance of encounters, the chaos, the frenzy of gesture, the unforeseen events in the workshop, the attempts that fail.
Filling the image also means being generous
In Delémont’s exhibition, we will find what makes up the DNA of Hänggi’s drawing, an image where a certain fear of heights reigns or, at the very least, a desire to impact every millimeter of the support. And, new, women finally appear. “When I draw, I don’t feel like I’m specifically drawing men. Well, now that you mention it, yes, maybe, some figures are bald and others wear briefs. There’s also this recurring figure of the Mexican wrestler, the luchador wearing his mask It’s a motif that I really like because it belongs to popular culture.”
The Mexican wrestler’s mask is also a second skin that transforms him into a superhero. “And, the superhero is also part of this popular culture that I particularly like. Moreover, I feel close to the French painter Hervé Di Rosa. Firstly because he too is a “figurative”, that he has traveled a lot and is interested in aesthetic productions outside the field of fine arts.”
“Don’t ask me why spades come out of this pyramid. I don’t know. When I start a drawing, I don’t know what it will end up with, what the final image will look like. The key word is spontaneity On the other hand, each work exhibited is the result of a long period of work, made of first drafts, of research, of trial and error. Sometimes, I also make do with it. what I have. One moment, I no longer had red color so I used mercurochrome Another time, I no longer had the household paper that I use to mop up the spills. I had to use toilet paper. This one, which was thinner, crumbled and ended up sticking to the work. I liked it, I left it there. I’m not someone who sits down. at my work table always at the same time. I do as I want and sometimes, as I can. I listen to a lot of electronic music, not music from 15 years ago. Fifteen years is old. What is important is what is done today!”
Yves Hänggi – Vertigo,
Samia Artho Gallery, Place Roland Béguelin, in Delémont, until 17 November 2024.
