The painting "SCHAU, ICH BIN BLIND, SCHAU", is a typical example of the late conceptual artist Rémy Zaugg’s art. In English the text means LOOK, I AM BLIND, LOOK. In his paintings the same text is repeated over and over again in different languages and colours.
Zaugg’s art is both conceptual and minimalist. During his career he investigated and explored language and vision, and enjoyed challenging the viewer’s perception. . He played an important role as both a critic and observer of contemporary culture, especially with regards to the perception of space and architecture. He believed sight and consciousness to be effectively linked and worked with the meaning of text and words as subjects in his paintings. His works used language in a fragmented way to convey that which is most critical for a human, being seen by the other. Zaugg was also interested in the opposite of vision – blindness. Zaugg also took a strong interest in language and its power to deconstruct and reconstruct new contexts.
Zaugg was not only a painter; he was also a philosopher, writer and curator. For many years, he collaborated with the architects Herzog & Meuron. Together they realised several architectural projects, the best known being the design for London’s Tate Modern.
Rémy Zaugg was born in 1943, in Courgenay, Switzerland. He lived and worked in Pfastatt, France and Basel, Switzerland, until his death in 2005.
Museums that have hosted Zaugg’s solo exhibitions include Centre Georges Pompidou, Kunstmuseum Basel, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and Berlin’s Nationalgalerie. He has also exhibited at Magasin III in Stockholm.