Heidi Bucher

Heidi Bucher (1926–1993) was a Swiss artist interested in exploring architectural space and the body through sculpture. She was born in Winterthur, Switzerland and attended the School for the Applied Arts in Zurich.^[1] Her work dealt primarily with private spaces, the body, domestication, and individual and collective experiences.

Early work

Bucher's early work was mainly focused on the body. In the early 1970s, she moved to Los Angeles. While there, she collaborated with her then-husband Carl Bucher on Landings to Wear and Bodyshells. The large-scale, wearable works blurred the boundary between sculpture and apparel, and they were featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.^[2] An 8mm film shows the oversized foam "Bodyshells" in action on Venice Beach.^[3] They were showcased in an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Art and Design) in New York City and exhibited at LACMA in April 1972.^[4]

Later work

Bucher became more interested in the body's relationship to space in her later work. She took various fabric and liquid latex and made casts of various private and personal spaces, these casts she referred to as "Skinnings.".^[1]

References