Art and the Divine
More than a thousand meters up the alps, Jasha stares out, over his freshly-planted fruit trees. Some of them aren’t even in his land, but that is completely besides the point. Others have been planted thousands of kilometers away, on his travels. They’re all gifts: to strangers, to the next generations, to humanity.
Jasha knew he was missing something when he was a student. So he got on a train and headed out of Switzerland. “The most important thing was to be on the road. Somewhere, anywhere.. to just move.”
Eventually, he reached the people who lived in the caves of Granada. “It was the first drop of life for me.” I finally had found the direction I wanted to go in.”
Another time, he meditated on a rock in Sicily for three days. And after each journey, he’d come back to his home in the alps, and start on his art. “I started painting on the walls, but I ran out of walls..” His father, the artist Carlo Schmidt, bought him his first canvas. “My art was necessary to express something. To understand the new kind of inspiration from travel, and to channel it.”
“I saw my first steps while working under Oskar Rütsche, in informal art, where you access the art very fast.” Later, I worked with Pierre Zufferey. I explored printing, pigments and how to make a canvas oneself. And then, of course, I learnt a lot through my father.”
“From the beginning, I started developing my technique. It is very simple.. anyone can do it, and it will always be unique to the person. I start with milk, this perfect background, and then build with pigment and color. I have tried oil, coffee grounds… there isn’t anything in my kitchen that I have not experimented with. And that’s how I paint my stars.”
Why stars? “They’re something that is very accessible and recognizable to everyone. And it helps me understand the divine that created me, just as it created the stars. We, all this, is a part of the divine.”
Has Jasha seen the divine? “In many different ways. I can find it in a lot of stuff. In nature, in you, in everything you can see. As I was traveling, I went very far with my soul and consciousness. Through meditation, breathing, yoga and painting. I want to bring back my experiences of the divine, and share it with people.”
“When you express yourself with the stars, you still see them even when you close your eyes. Art and the universe touch me even then. With my eyes closed.”
Exhibitions
Jasha has taken part in over 50 solo and group exhibitions:
Maxxx. Sierre, Switzerland. 2016
Lefkada, Greece. 2016
Zone 30, Sierre, Switzerland. 2016
Zeughaus, Brig (light and water installation), Switzerland. 2017
Brig (Valais, Switzerland) to Brig (Croatia). Visarte / Triennale Valais. 2017
Visarte exhibition. Zeughaus Glis, Switzerland. 2017
Dadim Dadam Bling ! Bling ! Brig, Switzerland. 2017
Castle of Leuk, Switzerland. 2018
Werkhof Brig, Switzerland. 2018
Art in the hospital. Visp, Switzerland. 2019
Works on Nyfeler, Visarte Expo. Brig, Switzerland. 2019
Gallery Huis Clos. Sierre, Switzerland. 2020
Appetisers. Leuk, Switzerland. 2020
Photo and video exhibition. Leuk Castle, Switzerland. 2020
Spirituality. Werkhof Brig, Switzerland. 2020
Grande Fontaine. Sion, Switzerland. 2020
Mockba. Olten, Switzerland. 2020
Creativ Alpin Atelier Valais. Switzerland. 2021
El Granada Exhibition 2021
Photo Video Expo. Leuk Castle, Switzerland. 2021
Gallery St.Laurent. Leukerbad, Switzerland. 2021
Culture Festival Brig. Switzerland. 2021
Espace Culture Sion. Switzerland. 2021
In Memoriam. Sion, Switzerland. 2021
Community center Guttet. Switzerland.2022
Photo Video Expo. Castle Leuk, Switzerland. 2022
Art processions. Raron, Switzerland. 2022
Art and Nature. Guttet, Switzerland. 2022
Visarte Team Player Exhibition. Switzerland. 2022
Landart Twingi. Binn, Switzerland. 2022
Campus Biotech Technopol. Geneva, Switzerland. 2022
Visarte exhibition Aquarium. Brig, Switzerland. 2022
Exhibition 37° Humanity-Inhumanity. Leuk, Switzerland. 2022
Utopia exhibition. Guttet-Feschel, Switzerland. 2023
Project Visibility. Turtmann, Switzerland. 2023
C3. Mexico City, Mexico. 2023
Speed Dating: 50 years of Visarte Valais. Switzerland. 2023
Appetizer. Leuk Castle, Switzerland. 2023
Visarte 50th anniversary exhibition Manoir. Martigny, Switzerland. 2023
Project Kapellenweg. Bürchen, Switzerland. 2023
Transformer Gallery. Berlin, Germany. 2023 (probably)
Beamerbike Expo. 2023
Underconstruction XXL. Visp, Switzerland. 2023
Project Humanity Paris and New York. 2023
Gallery Brigitte Negrier, La Ferronerie Paris 2023
Foto-Video Ausstellung Schloss Leuk Switzerland 2024
Begleitausstellung Speed Dating Visarte Wallis Switzerland 2024
Galerie zur Matze Brig / Werkhof Switzerland 2024
Art Metro Sierre Switzerland 2024
Kapellenweg Raron Switzerland 2024
ecomuseum Simplondorf Switzerland 2024
Kulturbärg Blatten Switzerland 2024
Kulturmühle Lützelflüh Switzerland 2024
Kunstaustausch BBKL Leipzig Deutschland 2024
Kunst in der Stadt Brig, Preisträger, 2024
Gleitschirm Expo Fiesch Switzerland 2025
Speed Dating Ausstellung Visarte Wallis Switzerland 2025
Kunstprozession Wandfluh Raron Switzerland 2025
L `Art pour Lahr Deutschland 2025