BIO
Chantal Hediger (b. 1974 in Aarau, Switzerland) is a contemporary painter based in Schmerikon, Switzerland, working primarily with acrylic, oil and oil pastel on unprimed cotton canvas. Her paintings bring organic forms, botanical fragments, and landscape-like elements into dialogue with architectural lines and layered surfaces. They move between abstraction and figuration, built up in layers that let earlier states remain visible, while saturated color and passages of density and quiet create a visual language attuned to perception and presence, developed most recently in the series Reconnecting.
At the core of her practice lies an ongoing inquiry into aliveness, the intensity of being fully present in a world that moves through experience half-attentive and accelerated. Nature, color, botanical form, and landscape are her entry point, not her subject: a flower can turn into a gesture, a landscape into a spatial construction, an observed form into something only imagined. Her paintings investigate perception itself, how something felt becomes material, how the ordinary can turn extraordinary, and how paint can change the quality of attention. Rather than depicting objects, her work explores relationships, and the emergence of something that could not have been planned in advance. Her approach draws on a phenomenological understanding of perception, in the sense Merleau-Ponty describes, where seeing is not distant observation but a bodily, reciprocal exchange with the world. Painting becomes a site where attention deepens and recognition becomes a beginning, not an answer, a threshold where the visible gives way to what can only be felt.
Hediger has painted continuously since 1992, studying at the Kunstakademie Bad Reichenhall with Peter Tomschiczek and Stefan Wehmeier, and in a decade-long masterclass with Ingrid Jureit. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Museum/Kunstraum Zeitfalten in Uznach, Galerie Bachlechner in Bergdietikon, Galerie le Sud in Zürich, the Marlene Yu Museum in Shreveport, the Gebert Stiftung für Kultur/Alte Fabrik in Rapperswil, and Frauen im Bundeshaus in Bern. Recent exhibitions include Abundance at Galerie Goldbach, Küsnacht (2025 to 2026); Florescence at Andy Nanz Gallery (2026), accompanied by a catalogue now in its second printing; and Hommage an Sappho at Galerie anixis, Baden (2026), opened with a welcome address by art historian Philip Ursprung of ETH Zürich. Her works are held in the Rainforest Art Foundation and the Marlene Yu Museum in the USA, as well as in the corporate collections of Baupool Baumanagement GmbH in Zürich and the Raiffeisenbank Aarau-Lenzburg, alongside private collections in Switzerland, South Africa and the United States.
CV
Born in 1974 in Aarau, Switzerland
Resides and works in Schmerikon/SG, Switzerland
EDUCATION
2012-2022: studies and masterclass in painting, Ingrid Jureit, Bad Reichenhall, Germany
2020: federally certified diploma in art therapy, HFGS, Aarau, Switzerland
2007-2009: diploma, art therapy studies, Magenta Akademie, Reiden, Switzerland
2005-2011: advanced study of painting, Peter Tomschiczek/Stefan Wehmeier, Kunstakademie, Bad Reichenhall, Germany
2005: Painting, Ilana Bloch, Los Angeles, the United States of America 1992-2005: self-taught studies
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2026, Florescence, Andy Nanz Gallery, Sils Maria, Switzerland
2024, Innenwelten & Aussenansichten, Galerie Bachlechner, Bergdietikon, Switzerland
2023, Das ICH im Bild, AHA Halle, Aarau, Switzerland
2021, Sich-T-räume, Galerie Mauritiushof, Bad Zurzach, Switzerland
2021, Flow, Museum Amden, Amden, Switzerland
2019, Verwurzelt Fliegen, Raum für Kultur, Pfäffikon, Switzerland
2013, Menschen, Galerie Vogtei, Herrliberg, Switzerland
2011, Halbzeit, Zürichsee Galerie, Bäch, Switzerland
2006, State of Mind, Galerie Filoni, Gebenstorf, Switzerland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2027, Dickicht, IG Halle im Kunst(Zeug)Haus, Rapperswil-Jona (geplant) 2026, Simply Two No. 5, Kornhaus Romanshorn (juriert und geplant) 2026, Hommage an Sappho, Galerie anixis, Baden, Switzerland. 2025, Abundance, Galerie Goldbach, Küsnacht, Switzerland
2024, raumSPIELraum, Museum/Kunstraum Zeitfalten, Uznach, Switzerland
2023, Wandel ist Stärke, SGBK | Villa Meier-Severini, Zürich, Switzerland
2023, Jubiläum 25 Jahre, Galerie anixis, Baden, Switzerland
2022, Perspectives, NoA Network of Arts, Luzern, Switzerland
2022, Bäumig, Galerie Kemptnertobel, Wetzikon, Switzerland
2021, Frauen im Bundeshaus, SGBK | Bundeshaus, Bern, Switzerland
2020, Malerei, Galerie anixis, Baden, Switzerland
2018, African roots, Galerie le Sud, Zürich, Switzerland
2018, Höhepunkte, Galerie anixis, Baden, Switzerland
2017, 5ünfstern, Kunst(Zeug)Haus, Rapperswil, Switzerland
2016, Nature in Art, Rainforest Art Foundation, New York, the United States of America
2015, International Rainforest Artists, Marlene Yu Museum, Shreveport, the United States of America
2015, Rainforest Art Foundation, Galerie Wild, Zürich, Switzerland
2012, Kunst im Neubau, Schuler Auktionen, Schafisheim, Switzerland
2011, Kunstforum International, Galerie del mese fischer, Meisterschwanden, Switzerland
2010, Kunstmarkt Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Alte Fabrik, Rapperswil, Switzerland
2008, Urkraft und Zerbrechlichkeit, Kunstraum Kulturkreis, Untersiggenthal, Switzerland
2008, Untitled, Kunstraum Vitrine, Luzern, Switzerland
ART FAIRS
2016, ART Innsbruck, represented by Galerie Dür, Innsbruck, Austria
2008, Kunstmesse Salzburg, represented by Kunstforum International, Salzburg, Austria
2008, Immagina ARTE in fiera, represented by Kunstforum International, Bologna, Italy
2007, ART International Zürich, represented by Galerie Süess, Zürich, Switzerland
2005, Brewery ARTWALK, Los Angeles, the United States of America
COLLECTIONS
Rainforest Art Foundation, Marlene Yu Museum, Shreveport, the United States of America
Baupool Baumanagement Gmbh, Zürich, Switzerland
Raiffeisenbank Aarau-Lenzburg, Lenzburg, Switzerland
& various private collectors in Switzerland, South Africa and the United States of America
SELECTED PRESS
Marie-Eve Hofmann-Marsy, "Grauer Sandstein und farbige Kunst" in Linth24 (2026)
"Wechsel im Präsidium Gönnerverein IG Halle" in Linth24 (2026) Bianca Kann, “Painting a Path to Self-Discovery” in aatonau art Magazine and Japan edition (2024) Kolja Brand, “Interview mit Chantal Hediger” in Athena Global Art Magazine (2022)
Gabi Corvi, “Eine Schmerknerin unter der Bundshaus Kuppel” in Linth Zeitung (2021)
Gabi Corvi, “Sie will mehr als nur an der Oberfläche kratzen” in Linth Zeitung (2021)
uz, “Der Betrachter vollendet das Werk” in Die Botschaft (2021)
Gabi Corvi, “Plakataktion spricht vielschichtig an” in Linth Zeitung (2021)
Bruno Glaus, “Portraitieren bedeutet Selbstbegegnung” in Obersee Nachrichten (2020)
Jérôme Stern, “Künstlerinnen locken Passanten” in Obersee Nachrichten (2019)
"Verwurzelt Fliegen” in Höfner Volksblatt (2019)
“Featured artist Chantal Hediger” in Artist Portfolio Magazine (2018)
“Interview Chantal Hediger” in Creative Paper Magazine Issue 007 (2017)
Ursula Burgherr, “Ex-Moderatorin malt Afrika” in Aargauer Zeitung (2015)
Stefanie Schnelli, “Farben der Erinnerung” in Art und Reise Magazin (2014)
Kurt Kassel, “Farbenpracht in der Zürichsee Galerie” in Volksblatt (2011)
Markus Timo Rüegg, “Das Wunschgespräch” in Die Südostschweiz (2010)
Dominic Duss, “Farbige Einblicke ins Leben” in Obersee Nachrichten (2010)
Barbara Rüfenacht, “Ich bin eine Lebenskünstlerin” in Aargauer Zeitung Sonntag (2009)
Claudia Marek, “Urkraft und Zerbrechlichkeit” in Rundschau Untersiggenthal (2008)
Helene Basler-Märchy, “Wie Wellness fürs Auge” in Aargauer Zeitung Lenzburg-Seetal (2006)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Hediger, Chantal: Florescence. Exhibition catalogue, Andy Nanz Gallery, Sils Maria, 2026. Becker, Maria (ed.): Wandel ist Stärke - Schweizer Künstlerinnen heute. Basel: Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, 2023. Kunstverein Oberer Zürichsee (ed.): kunstspinnerei'18 - Ein Streifzug in das Grundrauschen der bildenden Kunst. Kaltbrunn: Edition Erni, 2019.
PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
2026-today: President, Gönnerverein IG Halle, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland 2025: Judge, San Diego Watercolor Society/June Show Painting, San Diego
2024: Co-Presidency ad interim, SGBK – Swiss Society of Women Artists, Zurich Section, Zurich, Switzerland.
2019-today: Art Mentor, Reise zu:r inneren Künstler:in/Mentor Programm Painting, Schmerikon, Switzerland 2017-today: art instructor, Boesner/Musenkuss Painting, Unterentfelden/Münchwilen, Switzerland
2009-today: subject lecturer, Magenta Akademie/Art therapy modul program, Reiden, Switzerland
2012-2014: lecturer, Schul- und Wohnzentrum Schachen/Painting with teens, Schachen, Switzerland