Collection: RUTH-MARIA OBRIST

Ruth Maria Obrist does not assert; she constructs. Beginning with geometric shapes and precise visual systems, she develops artworks that reveal themselves on multiple levels. Her practice is deeply rooted in the traditions of Minimal Art as well as constructive and concrete art. Rather than relying on individual gestures, Obrist works with a conceptual vocabulary based on strict, logical derivations. Geometry becomes her guiding thread.

With playful virtuosity, she explores the optical tension between arithmetically identical surfaces, shifts between positive and negative forms, and contrasts geometric physicality with two-dimensional drawing. Her creations follow fixed rules, not spontaneity. As she often remarks, mathematical structures offer her stability in an increasingly confusing world. This clarity of thought and form shapes her entire artistic universe.

Ruth Maria Obrist was born on 9 May 1955 in Laufenburg in Switzerland and grew up in Turgi and Untersiggenthal. Since 1993, she has lived and worked in Baden, where her studio continues to serve as the centre of her artistic production. Her career spans more than four decades, during which she has exhibited widely in Switzerland and internationally. She has received numerous distinctions, including the Swiss Federal Grant for Applied Arts in 1983 and 1985, and several residency fellowships in Prague, Paris, and Genoa.