About the Artist

Cinzia Hochstrasser is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Lugano, Switzerland. She has been working in different mediums such as acrylics, oils and encaustic while dabbing with pastel and charcoal, too.

She has taken different workshops and painting courses in the last 12 years, which has helped her to develop her own style and pushed her to open her mind and soul to other views, mediums and sensibilities.

She loves to see contrasting colors, movements and shapes in her paintings, and usually paints abstract artworks and portraits.

Artist statement

I love contrasts: opposite colors, different geometric shapes, the juxtaposition of shadow along with light, abstract and figurative art, colorful abstract paintings and/or 2/3 colors portraits paintings. Through all my paintings I try to replicate the drama of emotions and to make a story visible (in plain sight or in an abstract way).

In my figurative artworks I am not focused on a facial structure or body, the exactness of the features, but the inner emotions and how to display or hide it in the expressions on the faces. It is a more structured, planned way of painting, using less colors and more shadows and light.

While in my abstract artworks I'm expressing my own emotional state during a painting session. I don't have any plans other than use the more vibrant, contrasting colors, creating shapes that I enhance or not depending on the mood and the feeling.

To best convey the story I use oil colors for my portraits and acrylic for my abstract paintings. But I'm keen on utilizing other materials, such as gold leaf, charcoal, aluminium and textiles to help me in telling the story and representing emotions in an inspiring way.

My goal is to see what response and impact a simple image can have in a viewer, with the potential to connect his own personal story to the image.

Hands

Cinzia Hochstrasser

By Samantha Montagnini Photography