Teddy Bear

I recently visited “Nevermore,” the exhibition by Winston Roeth at Open Space Gallery, and it left a lasting impression on how I experience art.

With the exhibition “Evermore,” Mono Art Space presents a retrospective in the form of an installation dedicated to the American artist Winston Roeth (born 1945 in Chicago). The artist’s most comprehensive solo exhibition to date in Switzerland offers insight into all the major groups of his work through approximately twenty pieces, some of which are multi-part works.

Color is the medium, form, and content of Winston Roeth’s painting. In his paintings, he explores the interplay of color, forms, lines, and surfaces, allowing each work to develop its own visual rhythm. The clear and concentrated areas of color emerge through a process of continuous painting and overpainting. On natural surfaces such as slate and wood, or on Dibond, he creates matte, almost velvety surfaces as well as glossy, reflective ones. Roeth’s focus on specific painterly questions—such as the treatment of color on the surface or the boundaries and space of the image—directs attention to pure perception and leads to unique visual experiences.

What struck me most, though, was something more personal. Art doesn’t speak in one fixed language—it shifts depending on who is looking. During my visit, Mr. Roeth led me into a smaller space filled with drawings. That’s where I found my favorite piece. I called it “Teddy Bear.” That’s not its real title, but it felt so warm, so soft, almost fluffy and comforting, that the name came instantly to mind.

It reminded me that meaning in art isn’t always given—it’s discovered, felt, and sometimes completely reimagined.