Gabrielle Graessle was born in Zurich, Switzerland and has been fascinated by painting and drawing since she was a child. She attended Zurich Art School for 5 years, where she completed a degree in graphic design. Her first exhibitions took place while she was still a student. During this time, she made mainly black and white charcoal drawings spontaneously depicting her personal imagery. For 15 years, she was represented by various galleries in Switzerland. Many of her charcoal drawings hang in private and public collections. At the beginning of 2000, she and her partner emigrated to France and later to Spain, where they built and redesigned old houses. For years they moved from one renovation project to the next. At that time, her means of expression were mainly drawings and sketchbooks. In 2015, she settled down in Andalusia. She decided to immerse herself completely in her imaginary world again and to express herself in large format, colored, intuitive and figurative paintings. Her studio is located in a group of old cottages in the middle of nowhere. There are no distractions, and she can fully concentrate on her work in a secluded setting in nature. There she works on several canvases at the same time, creating multiple series of paintings.At the same time, drawings are still an important part of her work. These are spontaneous expressions of her thoughts and stories. They are often the starting point for her paintings.In 2020, she restarted to present her art at art fairs in Barcelona and Madrid, and participated in group shows in Germany and France.
Read More'I paint all what surrounds me, what i see. My work is intuitive and always inspired by all what takes my interest.All becomes form, enters into my drawings and paintings: animals, nature, fashion, films, books, also feelings, music, images from childhood up to now, without restrictions.I start my work intuitively with or without an idea. It takes then on a life of its own, go somewhere else entirely. Often I develop the ideas from my drawings and transform them into my paintings. My works are colourful, figurative, kitsch and large, sometimes with text, mostly 180 x 260 cm, done with acrylic, spray and sometimes glitter.I love large paintings, i like to be surrounded by my imagery, to Immerse completely in my world of images. I work normally on 4-6 paintings at the same time and switch between drawings and paintings, which frees me again and again and also leads to new topics...I draw and paint without thinking, pin the drawings on the wall and don't look longer at them. The drawings are not looking for a result. I live and work in a group of old cottages in the south of Spain where I have several studios to paint and to draw. I hate routine and I always listen to music when I work, I turn the music on and then I let it happen.'
Gabrielle Graessle
Text courtesy Alzueta Gallery.
