Exhibition ‘Between Heaven and Earth’

With the exhibition ‘Between Heaven and Earth – A Space of Seeing and Perception, between Constancy and Change, Closeness and Distance, Reality and Intuition’, the artist Esther Rauch presents new and selected works, bringing together two forms of expression for the first time: her landscape paintings (acrylic on canvas) and a new body of work comprising photographs on handmade Japanese paper (washi).

Esther Rauch, an artist and doctor born in Chur and raised in Zurich, has lived in Zuoz for many years. The alpine landscape of her immediate surroundings occupies a special place in her work. Whilst out walking or travelling, she observes, sketches, paints and photographs landscapes, capturing those moments when light, perspective and atmosphere come together to form a special composition for her.

Light and shadow, weather and seasons, proximity and distance make even familiar places appear in a new light time and again. Her fascination with the landscape and its constant change has been a constant feature of Esther Rauch’s artistic practice for decades. Many paintings begin directly in the natural world: armed with an easel and paints, Rauch captures her first impressions of the scene. The works are completed in the studio, where they take shape over days, weeks or months, guided by her own photographs as precise references.

Viewed from a distance, her landscapes appear almost photographic. Step closer and you see brushstrokes, patches of colour and textures; individual sections appear impressionistic, some almost abstract. After decades of meticulous representation, the artist now allows herself greater painterly freedom: a single, deliberate brushstroke is enough to bring out form, light or texture.

Whilst travelling through Japan, Esther Rauch discovered traditional washi paper. Its visible fibres and unique texture became the starting point for a new body of work: her own landscape photographs, printed on handmade washi. The paper is far more than just a medium for the image. Where areas are deliberately left unprinted – such as the sky above a mountain landscape – the material itself becomes an element of the image. Photography and natural material merge.

In her paintings, Esther Rauch moves from the landscape across the canvas to the finished image; in her works on Japanese paper, photography – which is otherwise merely a reference – becomes the artwork itself. Both approaches are linked by her precise yet emotional view of nature and her search for those moments in which a familiar landscape suddenly appears in a new light.