Michael Etzensperger, born in 1982 in Winterthur (Switzerland), graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with a BA in Arts & Media and an MA in Fine Arts at Institut Kunst at FHNW Basel. Photographic reproductions taken from encyclopaedias, the internet, advertising or other media, play a pivotal role as source material in Etzensperger’s work, which he then manipulates with RGB light, double exposure or other techniques. Whilst doing research for an early series, which focused on the photographic reproduction of sculptures, he became aware of the impact photographed masks from traditional cultures had on the early modernist artists, in particular on the cubists and surrealists. Beyond the motifs of the photographic plates, he became increasingly fascinated by the changing surface qualities of the reproductions that were determined by printing techniques, photographic stock, camera optics, and other factors. Etzensperger then began to use the mask images he had collected as starting points for new images by making double exposures of the reproductions. In these composite pictures, two masks merge into a new hallucinatory face effigy, whilst the overlay of the different surface qualities produces painterly effects. For his bugs series, he took enlarged shots of insects from his computer screen, once again the subject matter being secondary to the reproduction itself. Although his practice mainly explores the photographic medium, he also works with video and installation. Michael lives and works in Zurich.

→ Michael Etzensperger biography

Michael Etzensperger, born in 1982 in Winterthur (Switzerland), graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with a BA in Arts & Media and an MA in Fine Arts at Institut Kunst at FHNW Basel. Photographic reproductions taken from encyclopaedias, the internet, advertising or other media, play a pivotal role as source material in Etzensperger’s work, which he then manipulates with RGB light, double exposure or other techniques. Whilst doing research for an early series, which focused on the photographic reproduction of sculptures, he became aware of the impact photographed masks from traditional cultures had on the early modernist artists, in particular on the cubists and surrealists. Beyond the motifs of the photographic plates, he became increasingly fascinated by the changing surface qualities of the reproductions that were determined by printing techniques, photographic stock, camera optics, and other factors. Etzensperger then began to use the mask images he had collected as starting points for new images by making double exposures of the reproductions. In these composite pictures, two masks merge into a new hallucinatory face effigy, whilst the overlay of the different surface qualities produces painterly effects. For his bugs series, he took enlarged shots of insects from his computer screen, once again the subject matter being secondary to the reproduction itself. Although his practice mainly explores the photographic medium, he also works with video and installation. Michael lives and works in Zurich.

→ Michael Etzensperger biography