Estate of
Pier Geering
Solo Exhibition
Toro Studio, Zurich
26th March, 2026
The works presented in this exhibition originate from a single roll of paintings created by Pier Geering between 1990 and 1993. The roll contained seventeen individual works, of which six are shown here. Painted with gouache on delicate tissue paper, the images reveal the immediacy and fragility that characterize much of Geering’s practice. The thin surface absorbs colour quickly, preserving the spontaneity of the gesture while giving the works a light and almost ephemeral presence. Seen together, the paintings unfold like a sequence of symbolic scenes: figures, animals, weapons, celestial signs and heraldic emblems appear in bold outlines and luminous colours. Their visual language evokes fragments of an unfamiliar mythology, moving between humour and menace, ornament and allegory.
Created during the early 1990s, the works reflect a moment of profound transformation. The collapse of political orders, the Gulf War and the violent conflicts in Eastern Europe shaped the atmosphere of the time. Geering followed these events closely, translating their tensions into a symbolic visual language rather than depicting them directly. At the same time, the period also marked an important moment in his personal life: in 1991 his daughter was born. For Geering, painting and poetry were ways of processing the present, allowing global events and private experiences to merge into a shared field of imagery. The paintings from this roll therefore read like fragments of a visual chronicle—images in which personal mythologies, political anxieties and timeless archetypes intersect.
El Presidente – Confessions d'un artiste
Published by Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich, 2025
Zürich artist Pier Geering (1947–2024) was raised in Barcelona, São Paulo, Basel, and the Romandy. His geographically and culturally fragmented biography deeply informs his ephemeral and elusive artistic persona. His works intertwine aesthetic formalism with bizarre symbolism, whose visual language and the fragmented nature of his multilingual poetry only fully reveal themselves against the backdrop of his eclectic artistic, literary, and philosophical references. Geering’s oeuvre follows the thread of his varied career, embracing a social, collaborative dimension—having served as a butler, bouncer, talent scout, manager, cultural organizer, curator, lifeguard, museum director, and always, an artist: everything becomes material, culminating and condensing into this extraordinary body of work by an artist who, in his love-hate relationship with the established art system, imagined himself as a poète maudit throughout his life.
The book is available at Edition Patrick Frey.
1969–1972
Study of Ethology, University of Basel
Early artistic influences include Karl Laszlo (Basel) and Pablo Stahli (Zurich).
Selected Artistic Activities
1968–1970
Participated in student occupations in Nanterre, London, and Belgrade
1970s
Panderma 12 – Freedom for Timothy Leary (with Karl Laszlo)
TNT Theatre – Theatre of Intervention
Free Jazz tour, Switzerland
FAT CITY rock group
1973
Galerie Mini Max (von Bartha), Basel
Selected Exhibitions
1976
Kunstszene Zürich
1979
EUROPA 79, Stuttgart
15 Zwiters, Kunsthuis Amsterdam
1980
12 Junge Künstler INK, Zurich
1983
Galerie Staeheli, Zurich
1984
The Tales from the Crypt, Galerie Basta, Lausanne
1986
Flaggen, Galerie Staeheli, Zurich
1987
Voodoo Nights, Art Magazin
Le Nouveau Monde, Galerie Basta, Lausanne
1988
Le Vol de Nuit, Art Magazin
Hautzeichnung, Art Magazin
IN SITU (Die Sehnsucht nach Glück), Secession Vienna
1989
Fêtes des Morts IV, Le Manoir Martigny
1990
Das Kriegsmuseum, Galerie Trip, Lucerne
Le Musée de la Guerre II, Galerie Anton Meier, Geneva
Verwandtschaften, Helmhaus, Zurich
1991
Fêtes des Morts VII, Le Manoir Martigny
1992
Schweizertage, Wuppertal
1993
More Pricks than Kicks, Palais Xtra, Zurich
1994
Lucifers Rising, Galerie Mangisch
Galerie Priska Meier, Tell
2000
Resurrection Shuffle, Galerie bis Heute, Bern
2009
Black, White and Gold and Other Colours, Rue Verneuil, Paris
Resurrection Shuffle II, Galerie Marassatrois, Paris
2014
Nomaden Bilder, Galerie Vice Versa, Berlin
Reflection in a Golden Eye, Galerie Fahrradburro, Berlin
2015
Eine Stadt sucht einen Maler
2017
Last Tango in Paradise
2018
Like an Artist (studio visit)
Le Musée de Cire, Paris
Cultural Initiatives
Founder of the Kulturverein Bad Letzigraben, Zurich
Curator of exhibitions at the Max Frisch Bad Museum (from 1999)
Geering’s work was deeply shaped by his fascination with ambiguity, marginality, and the unsettling. He was drawn to artists and figures who challenged conventions and moved at the edges of established cultural systems. This sensibility resonates in his imagery, where ornamental beauty often coexists with darker symbolic undertones.
Many of his paintings evoke fragments of an unfamiliar visual language: ritualistic signs, emblems, and motifs associated with violence, death, or spiritual devotion. These elements appear both decorative and enigmatic, suggesting symbols from an imagined or distant culture while remaining rooted in Geering’s personal mythology.
Material fragility was central to his practice. Geering frequently worked with extremely delicate tissue paper, a surface so thin that it responds to the slightest movement of air. This choice reinforced the ephemeral character of his images, which often appear as if they had emerged from elsewhere—light, transient, and suspended between presence and disappearance.
Although he maintained an ironic distance from the art world, Geering remained closely connected to cultural life through exhibitions, curatorial work, and collaborative initiatives, particularly in Zurich. His oeuvre reflects a singular artistic voice navigating between beauty and disturbance, distance and vulnerability.
Hegibachstrasse 84
8032 Zurich
Switzerland
Inquire here / Contact Form
The Pier Geering Estate is managed by Celia and Diego Geering, the artist’s children.
They are dedicated to preserving, researching, and cataloguing their father’s work, while gradually making the archive accessible to the public.
Through the ongoing digitisation and documentation of the estate, they aim to ensure the long-term visibility and understanding of Pier Geering’s artistic legacy.
The estate welcomes inquiries from collectors, galleries, museums, and researchers.