Chrys Zumstein

Chrys Zumstein (*1980) is a visual artist from Switzerland. Studied fine arts at the F F School for Art and Media Design in Zurich. With his works he asks questions about reality and fantasy, which he questions in his portraits. Works primarily with the medium of photography and image processing. A work can contain up to 30 different photos, which are combined to form a new one using a wide variety of image processing techniques.

On the hunt for the perfect selfie. You want to post your perfect picture. Each filter serves to make the image look better to feel better. The realism is mixed with the fantasy. Reality is hidden. Inspired by the selfie culture and portraiture, he deals with self-expression. To examine questions of identity, staging, transience, forms of communication and reality. To question them too. In his pictures he likes to mix realism with fantasy.

He sees a connection to portraiture. This originally served a need that is now covered by selfies: namely to see yourself represented as an individual in public. Selfies are part of our everyday life. Even those who don’t take quick photos of themselves are surrounded by them in all sorts of media. The selfie moves in the field of tension between private and public, between the private moment of a snapshot and self-portrayal on the Internet. Accordingly, selfies are never just about showing, but always about hiding. Filters and other techniques are ultimately there to recapture a piece of privacy by constantly showing them.
His work is shown in exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad.