ZHĒKLĀ painting

At Berger & Föhr, we see our work as a critical exploration of identity at the intersection of conceptual and commercial art. Principally informed by our backgrounds in Swiss, modernist graphic design theory, we employ a research-driven methodology steeped in meaning-making, and materiality yielding what we often consider meta-recursive minimalist works. Our practice aims to critique, recontextualize, and subvert the familiar to question its very nature while presenting new, varying perspectives. Work includes paintings, prints, sculptures, brands, visual identity systems, zines, books, environmental graphics, murals, internet experiences, and digital and physical products.

In this manner, ZHĒKLĀ is a meta-recursive commentary on the state of the giclée as both a highly valued contemporary, artistic medium, and what could be considered low-grade, digitally reproduced junk. The work hinges on a dynamic, abstract expressionistic painting atop a store-bought giclée by a well-known, famous artist. The conceptual background painting follows the flow of the artwork printed beneath, but only loosely with hand-set, painted type in Druk Condensed Super declaring the phonetic spelling of this often misunderstood, misconstrued, and mispronounced medium.