Meet the Artists of Art Zug 25
Amy Ang
I moved from Singapore to Zurich, Switzerland more than a decade ago. I graduated in Communications Studies and worked in public and government relations before teaching myself to paint and making it my career whilst raising two kids. My vibrant acrylic and mixed media works are an exploration of identity, connection, and shared humanity. Drawing inspiration from my Asian roots, I want my art to reflect a deep appreciation for cultural diversity, human relationships, and the inner dialogues we have with ourselves.
Through my art, I want to foster connection—both within individuals as they reflect on my pieces and among communities that come together around shared themes of resilience, empathy, and empowerment.
Since beginning my artistic career in Switzerland, I have exhibited widely across Switzerland and internationally, with digital showcases in London and Madrid. I am represented on art platforms Artling and Artboxy. My collectors come from Switzerland, England, America, Australia, New Zealand and of course, from Singapore. I am a strong believer in using art for impact and have also supported humanitarian causes through my creative practice.
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Gheorghe Lisita
Gheorghe LisiÈ›a (b. 1982) is a prize-winning Moldovan and Romanian contemporary artist. He graduated from the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chisinau in 2006 and earned his master’s degree from the Ion Creanga Pedagogical University in Chisinau in 2007.
Gheorghe Lisita's artworks are richly colored and luminous. Through his art Gheorghe aims to restore humanities appreciation for the energy and beauty of the natural world. To immortalise a moment, capture the vibrancy of the its multiplicity of colors, its rhythm and atmosphere. A fusion of realism, post-impression and expressionism his artworks evoke the spirit of their setting and subjects. Gheorghe has displayed his pieces in solo and group exhibitions internationally.
Most of his artworks are in private collections in Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, France, Italy, the USA, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the U.K., Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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Hans Galliker
...everything is in flux - just like Hans Galliker's works from the 1990s. Back then, his paintings were created in nature along the Maggia river in Ticino. This Maggia inspiration of flowing continues and is reflected in his current works of art.
During longer stays in Buenos Aires and Berlin, Hans Galliker found his new form of expression: instead of painting along the Maggia, the Rio or the Spree, the magical works are now created in the studio.
The tension-filled compositions and the high-gloss, multi-layered play of colors are full of surprises. The complex spread of the color fields is a typical feature of Hans Galliker's current painting. He uses acrylic paints and various industrial materials.
Hans Galliker was born in 1948 in the canton of Lucerne and lives and works in central Switzerland. His works are in demand internationally and are appreciated by collectors and public institutions. He exhibits his works at galleries and art fairs in Switzerland and abroad.
Kurt Zeltner
STORYTELLER - MUSICIAN - PAINTER
Zeltner was born in 1967 in a farming village near Neuchâtel in Switzerland. After school he attended the School of Applied Arts in Biel /Bienne and the School of Design in Bern. Zeltner was never able to get used to the mechanisms of the “artist’s guild” and as a simple country child in the midst of a family steeped in arts and culture, he always remained an outsider. He rebelled against the art establishment, believing that his rural character was the only thing that was true and should be preserved. He closed himself off to many things whose value he only later recognized. This dichotomie - and the associated homelessness - is partly reflected to his works to this day. While he was the “artist” at home, he always remained the “peasant” among artists.
Romaine Kuonen and
Hadi MohammadKhani
Romaine Kuonen is an artist from Switzerland with family roots in southern Italy. Influenced by her artistically active father, she learned the craft of figurative painting from childhood. Central themes of her current artistic work are changes of perspective. Different perceptions of hidden things in nature and in different habitats are processed in several working steps and new compositions with acrylic, watercolor, oil, photography and digital experiments on canvas and paper. Influences from her own life story, emotions and experiences are sources of inspiration for her meaningful paintings, as well as the symbolism of legends and mythologies. She pursues continuous development of her artistic skills with various artists in abstract painting and watercolor painting.
Cooperation in CONTEMPORARY ART projects since 2022 with Hadi Mohammadkhani Iran: Art & Performance combined and depicted in artistic works with great radiance and energy. Connections between culture and inspiration blurs boundaries barriers. Part of the Musa Art Catalogue 2022, Rom.
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Member of the Swiss Society of Woman Artists in the Visual Arts, SGBK.
1. Place Art-Price Winner www.novumbasel.com
Max Atanassov
Max is an artist who has moved to Switzerland from London, but has spend portions of his life working and living in Italy, Bulgaria, California, Singapore and Hong Kong, and has visited the homes of Latin American tribesmen and Masai people. Initially he worked in banking and then in various technology startups in the field of nanotechnology and cloud computing, before immersing himself into the world of art. This exposure to multiple countries and cultures has affected his art, which mixes fantasy and reality to explore subjects related to the nature of reality, spirituality, human wishes and desires, as well as the unusual life of ordinary objects. He works mostly with India ink as his main medium. Max’s spouse is a ceramic artist who was present at multiples galleries and events in the UK and Switzerland.
Qhamani Bangani
Qhamani Bangani was born in eGcuwa in 1990. He met Ndzube in primary school, when they were both part of a dance group. Around this time Ndzube painted a portrait of a mutual friend’s father, and after seeing it, Bangani was moved to organize a painting session to learn
Ndzube’s techniques. Bangani remarks that later, Ndzube inspired him to study art, and he enrolled in graphic design at CPUT. In discussing his current practice and his shift from graphic design to fine art, he recalls a conversation with Ndzube, in which the artist said, ‘this art thing is a calling and it will haunt you if you don’t attend to it’.
Bangani’s work focuses on the relationship between humans, animals and spirits, highlighting the way nature acts as a medium for the spiritual realm. He attributes his connection to other worlds to the practice of lucid dreaming, as well as being raised by a mother who is both a prophet and a healer. His richly hued canvases are filled with blues suggestive of infinity and calm, vibrantly feminine pinks and a variation of greens alluding to pastures for praying, feeding and playing. His gestural brush strokes aim to mirror and convey the vitality with which he transfers paint onto canvas, the same energy created through tapping into the metaphysical realm that his work is inspired by. For Bangani, making is a cathartic process, he explains: ‘This body of work was also created at a very low part of my life and have used it as a means to let out all my emotions and as a healing tool as a sense of hope for a better tomorrow.’
Urs Jaermann
Arturs, also known as Urs Jaermann, is a Swiss artist born in Lausanne, a French-speaking part of Switzerland. Though his early life was influenced by the German-speaking region of Zurich, he later pursued a career in advertising. This career, close to art yet not fully immersed in it, was chosen partly due to his family's apprehensions about the financial instability often associated with artists. Ironically, some of his granduncle's artwork is now exhibited in the art museum of Basel.
After leaving advertising, Urs Jaermann rediscovered his passion for painting. He primarily works with acrylic on canvas, creating pieces that reflect his conceptual approach to art. Now, with a dedicated studio, he fully embraces his artistic journey. Arturs' works are showcased in various exhibitions, and he has received accolades for his artistic achievements.
His art is characterized by a conceptual approach, often infused with a touch of sarcasm or critical humor. Jaermann's work spans various themes including portraits, the state of the planet, and interpretations of nature. His portraits, for instance, are unique in their satirical and humorous depiction of people.
In addition to traditional painting, Jaermann explores contemporary themes such as climate change and societal conflicts, presenting these issues through a more abstract lens. He also delves into nature-inspired art, striving to offer a fresh perspective in a genre that has seen extensive exploration.
Christian Zilocchi
Christian Zilocchi (alias Chris Z-Lucky) from Vaud has always been fascinated by colors, images, and sounds. As a self-taught multidisciplinary artist, he is active in various fields, particularly music, painting, and comic strips (three-panel comics) – especially with his characters “Jaune & Vert,” which have been or will be published in the French-language Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes and in Luxembourg. Music is also an essential part of his life – first as a child, influenced by his parents, who were amateur classical musicians, and later through his work for a music festival and a major record label. This is how he describes his painting: "Colors, images, and sounds have always fascinated me. My creative approach is to illustrate worlds where energies, souls, and tangible universes collide. As a self-taught artist, I mix different techniques in my works: acrylic, collage, gold leaf, etc."
Nicole Steinmann
Nicole Steinmann (geb. 1969) lebt und arbeitet im Zürcher Oberland. Ihr Weg in die Gestaltung wurzelt in der Leidenschaft für Raum und Material. Er entwickelte sich über verschiedene Stationen zu einer vielschichtigen künstlerischen Praxis. Als Dekorationsgestalterin setzte sie erste Inszenierungen im Raum um. Sie bewegte sich zwischen Gestaltung, Materialerfahrung und Raumbewusstsein, bis sie in der Farbgestaltung ihr zentrales Ausdrucksmittel fand.
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Nach einem ersten Kurs zur Farbgestaltung in der Mode im Jahr 1996 vertiefte sie ihr Wissen am Haus der Farbe Zürich. 2009 schloss sie dort als Dipl. Farbgestalterin HF ab. Farbe, Form und Material sind für sie keine getrennten Disziplinen, sondern Elemente einer gestalterischen Sprache, die Räume prägt und Atmosphären schafft.
Ihre Projekte entstehen aus der Neugier auf das Unbekannte im Material. Aus der Lust, Flächen, Objekte und Strukturen miteinander in Dialog zu bringen. Ihre künstlerische Praxis versteht sie als offenes Feld zwischen Konstruktion und Intuition. Es ist ein fortlaufendes Erforschen der Beziehungen von Form, Materialität und Raum.
Ob in Objektserien, Tapetengestaltungen oder raumgreifenden Installationen. Steinmann arbeitet mit der Spannung zwischen Einzelteil und Ensemble, zwischen komponierter Gestaltung und freier künstlerischer Setzung.
2014 eröffnete sie in Wald ZH ihr eigenes Kaffee. Nicht nur als Gastrobetrieb, sondern als Ort der Begegnung, des Austauschs und des atmosphärischen Gestaltens.
Wichtige Stationen ihrer Arbeit waren unter anderem das Gewerbemuseum Winterthur mit einer Musterplatte im Rahmen des Haus der Farbe. Die Musterzentrale Zürich mit einer Installation eines bedruckten Zeltes. Die Lokremise Wald 2010 mit einer Rauminstallation sowie öffentliche Wandgestaltungen in Kleistertechnik.
In ihrer aktuellen Arbeit verbindet sie unterschiedliche Materialien und Formen zu sogenannten Objektfamilien. Sammlungen von Elementen, die sich formal und farblich aufeinander beziehen und doch eigenständig bleiben. Ihr Interesse gilt dem Moment, in dem sich Einzelteile zu einem Ganzen fügen, ohne ihre Eigenheit zu verlieren. Ein Balanceakt zwischen System und freier Setzung, der sich in ihren Arbeiten als lebendiges Gefüge von Formen, Spannungen und Beziehungen im Raum entfaltet.