BRETT WEIR | 1000 DAYS

1,000 Days is Brett Weir’s first exhibition in Zurich after a three-year hiatus from Switzerland. His latest paintings bear vivid reference to Zürich, the city he called home for a decade. 

Upon leaving Switzerland in late 2019, Weir planned to be back after the launch of an exhibition in Sydney. Then the world changed with the unforeseen spread of COVID: 1,000 Days separate these paintings from the origin of their conception, yielding the title of this series.  

The fault line of the pandemic’s impact runs deeply between his departure in 2019 and this new series. The tone of the work however is defiantly vibrant, transcending the gloom of the epoch - reaching for the ephemeral and the phenomenal.

Abstract as they appear, these paintings are nonetheless pervaded by deep, unconscious impressions of the artist’s experience of Zürich, specifically the city’s defining bodies of water. Within their abstraction remains an evident visual gestation; sometimes images become strangely clear as time separates us from their source. The paintings are rich with suggestions of the crystalline bodies of water and light phenomena that grace the picturesque city of Zurich.  

Ultimately the new series offers a poetic recollection of the place that has held the artist longer than any other in his adult life. The exhibition evokes an acknowledgement of the troubles of our time while simultaneously celebrating Switzerland’s natural splendour.