Monster ChetwyndThe Trompe l’oeil Cleavage

“I am impatient when it comes to making, and I always reach for everything around me, even if it doesn’t belong to me – I use it.” The English artist Monster Chetwynd (b. 1973 in London) became internationally known for her carnivalesque performances, which recall medieval mystery and carnival plays and take up themes from art history and pop culture, even though in the 2000s she had also made a name for herself as Spartacus or Marvin Gaye Chetwynd. In 2012 she was the first performance artist to be nominated for the renowned Turner Prize, and to this day her work occupies one of the most important positions in the field of contemporary performance. Chetwynd’s artistic oeuvre encompasses far more, however: she works with painting and sculpture, with installations and films. Her artistic practice is shaped by the summoning up and the combination of the most diverse culturally grounded sources. She creates something new, joining humour with curiosity and seeking out collaborations – these are the most striking features of her work. The exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich is now the first to present Monster Chetwynd’s work comprehensively in Switzerland. More than 60 works from the past 25 years become part of an immersive exhibition architecture. The book accompanying the exhibition, “The Trompe-l’œil Cleavage,” unfolds the diversity of her oeuvre in an aesthetic register developed in consultation with the artist.

Exhibition:
Kunsthaus Zürich, 16/5 – 31/8/2025