Eye Candy In May: Marlène Pichler

Hello Marlène, would you like to briefly introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?

Hey, I’m Marlène (she/her), a visual artist, and I’ve loved painting for as long as I can remember. At the age of four, I even won my first painting competition in Zurich Altstetten. When I had to choose a career path at 15, though, none of the creative apprenticeships matched my idea of creativity. So I decided to train as a care worker. The vocational baccalaureate in design later opened the door to studying art. After a second career shift, I decided to follow my heart and applied to Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts for Design & Art. For the first time in my professional life, I felt I was in the right place, surrounded by like-minded people. After completing a Bachelor in Fine Arts, I went on to finish a Master’s in Art Teaching. Since then, I’ve been working as an artist in a shared studio and doing supply teaching in visual arts.

Where are you based, and where do you feel at home?

Where I’m surrounded by people I love, and where I’ve settled in. At the moment, that’s mainly in the city of Zurich.

How would you describe your style?

Expressive, sensual, sometimes a little uncanny.

What do you hope to evoke with it?

An ambivalence between attraction and distance. I also express this ambivalence through my medium.
I usually create an image digitally first and then print it onto a surface, before painting over it with brush and colour in a second step. The perfection of the digital image has something cold and alienating about it, yet through certain glossy, colourful textures it also becomes very appealing. With the direct application of paint, I break through this cool aesthetic and bring (my) movement into the image.

Which song inspires you?

It depends on my mood. Sweet by Porridge Radio almost always works.

What brings you particular joy, aside from your art?

Going dancing with my favourite people, going on adventures, sharing meals or watching films together – and when I’m on my own, I enjoy reading.

Do you have a favourite piece among your works?

Always the most recent ones. At the moment, that includes the piece Okeanos Töchter.

Our readers will be receiving your images in their inbox every Thursday for a month. Is there anything you’d like to share with them?

I hope my images evoke emotions – joy, irritation, recognition…