Since the 1980s Enzo Cucchi has achieved international renown with his highly personal work in which he combines and merges the figurative and the abstract, as well as distinctly figurative and surrealist allusory elements. In his large format paintings he outlines the pictorial surface as open space, at the same time constructing large, colourful architectonic areas from the painting itself. The themes of his paintings – horses, houses, trees, eyes, skulls, human figures – resemble spiritual signs, symbols which refer to both the present moment and to classical, traditional themes. The subjectivity and emotionalism of Cucchi’s art appeal directly to the spectator’s imagination. Cucchi is not prepared to explain his works nor their themes, leaving the spectator to interpret them in his or her own way.

EMMA’s exhibition comprises 75 paintings, 9 drawings and 8 sculptures. With two exceptions, the works come from the Galerie Bruno Bischofsberger in Zurich.