- previous news
- next news
Today, Jean Tinguely would have turned 100. To me, he was more than an artist – he was an anarchic spirit, a magnet for people, a friend. Someone who never stood still, who threw himself into an idea – body, soul, and humor. A political poet among artists. A pyromaniac with heart.
He blew up conventions – both literally and figuratively. His art was always alive, loud, humorous, and at the same time profound – never conformist, never trivial. When he entered a room, the atmosphere changed. He was fire and flame – in mind and heart.
Together, we provoked, interfered, realized projects that now sound almost legendary. The “Art Train”: Tinguely was instantly enthusiastic. I had been inspired by images of the Bolshevik propaganda trains that once carried revolutionary ideas to the most remote corners of the Russian empire. Our train was meant to spread the messages of contemporary art. And what Tinguely, Luginbühl, Whiting, Aeppli, Vautier and others expressed through their traveling freight car installations was anything but apolitical.
The „Luminator", his last great sculpture – 24 meters long, 4 tons heavy – a Tinguely-style light machine, built with passion, played like a universe. Just before his death, we opened his final exhibition together at my gallery on Elisabethenstrasse in Basel. “What I Like” – the title said it all: Tinguely didn’t exhibit his own works, but rather what inspired, stimulated, and delighted him. He invited us to take part in his cosmos. This included Niki Lauda’s Formula 1 World Champion car as well as the preparatory model of Antoni Gaudí’s Güell Chapel.
Until the very end, he was alert, sharp, and fearless. An artist who knew the people, who went to the Schwingfest with them – and visited an exhibition with Beuys the very next day. A man of extremes. And of connection.
Dear Jeannot – you are missed. But your machines keep running. And with them, your spirit.
Vive Jeannot!
Photos: Enrico Luisoni, Onorio Mansutti
