Robert Fuerer

Artist Statement

I am a Swiss-born American artist whose practice is rooted in painting as a way of thinking, remembering, and enduring. I lived and worked in Asia for twenty-three years before returning to the United States four years ago, following the death of my father. That return was not only geographic but emotional, marking a period in which grief became inseparable from my motivation to make work.
Much of my recent practice has unfolded alongside the process of mourning. Painting has become a means of working through grief as it arrives in waves rather than conclusions. I am drawn to narrative-driven work that allows memory, landscape, and personal history to coexist. These paintings often reflect moments of reckoning: inherited stories, familial presence, and the quiet weight of what is no longer there. The act of painting gives form to experiences that resist language, allowing grief to be held, examined, and lived with rather than resolved.
A significant body of work emerged from this period, including a solo exhibition centered on my father’s life, values, and relationship to the Western landscape. Through this work, painting functioned as both tribute and conversation—a way of staying connected while acknowledging absence.
Grief continues to shape my practice not as a singular theme, but as a persistent force that deepens attention and commitment. My work is driven by the belief that making art can be an act of care: a way to move through loss with honesty, patience, and presence.