Youri Messen-Jaschin
Lausanne | Switzerland
Bio: From (1958 - 1962) his artistic studies lead him to the higher national school of fine arts (student of Professor Arno Roberto Cami) and to the Practical school of the Sorbonne, division of social sciences (history of art, Professor Pierre Francastel) in Paris. From 1962 until 1965, he went to the School of fine arts in Lausanne. He worked with the engraver and painter Ernest Pizzotti. « Expo of Lausanne » in 1964 with his kinetic glass and acrylic sculptures. He worked two years at the “Center of contemporary engraving” in Geneva. Then, he worked in Zurich, where he broadened his pictorial perspective with the painter Friederich Kuhn thru experience of the circle in the face. From 1968 until 1971, he acted at the University of Högskolan för design & Konsthantwerk in Gothenburg, where he created researches of textile kinetic objects. In 1967, he met at an exhibition in Gothenburg Konsthall Jesús - Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez and Julio Le Parc. Speaking with these artists, he discovered to be fascinated by optical art. He decided to devote all his research to kinetic art. An extended stay in Gothenburg gave him the opportunity to constantly evolve in movement and geometric shapes, integrating them in his textiles and oil paintings. His research in optical art had a significant impact in this area in Scandinavia. In 1968, Youri received the first prize for the Swiss contemporary engraving art. The same year, he got a scholarship from the Swedish government. In the 1970s, he stayed in Hamburg where he continued to work with artists from northern Germany, collaborating with him on different monumental projects. In 1970, he created a kinetic sculpture for Gould corporation in Eistetten, near the Black Forest in Germany. He took up residence in Bern from 1971 to 1981. His various stays abroad allowed each time to establish a link with artists working in the same artistic movement. Architecture plays an important role in his paintings and sculptures, the search for movement Op Art (kinetic art) in architectural space is a whole, and he could talk about it with Oscar Niemeyer, Burle Marx, in Rio de Janeiro, Otake in Sao Paolo in Brazil, and Clorindo Testa in Buenos Aires. He stayed in Caracas at the end of his trip, where he staged theatre and choreography of his own works which are presented at the Ateneo of Caracas and the “ VIth Festival Internacional de Teatro“, Fundacion Eugenio Mendoza, Asociación cultural Humboldt (Goethe-Institut) and the Alliance Française. He participated in many international exhibitions and got awards from research in optical art in Italy and USA. His works are in private collections, in national and international museums. He created for the Swiss Post, 3 stamps in optical art in 2010.
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