Artist Statement
“schlafendehundewecken” it’s us, Jasmin Polsini and Mynt. As an artist couple based in Switzerland, close to Zurich, we have been working together since 2007. In the fields of art, illustration and graphic design, we work on our own projects as well as commissioned works.
From our point of view, art is a natural human need to reflect one’s own being and to develop intellectually through this insight. The task of an artist is to ask. The answers lie in each individual and enter our consciousness as inspiration. This process of questioning and answering, of creativity and inspiration, unleashes the energy that drives us. The pictures serve us as a medium to create this cycle. In this way we become conscious creators of ourselves.
With this philosophy we conceive and paint together our art. This has led us to a surreal and narrative visual language that is unique in its form and technical implementation.
afp0001 (the Wave picture)
The picture is a commissioned work for the home of a Zurich banker. As usual with our commissioned works, the motif was secret until it was handed over. The subject, on the other hand, is always clear from the outset, as is the case here. It is always the personality of the person who receives the picture.
Through several interviews and specific questions with the buyer, we got to know him better and developed the picture over the course of a year. Begun with the planning and sketch work as well as extensive research to all picture elements. We also produce individual parts of the picture, which we integrated into the overall picture as a collage. The balance between planning and free design is very important to us. This balance is decisive for the success of such a work.
This also means taking the time that is necessary.
The elements symbolize different aspects of his personality as well as hopes and fears. It offers space for speculation, inspiration and reflection. This process continues and accompanies the owner for a lifetime. We look forward each time anew to being allowed to inhabit this process.
Biography
Jasmin Polsini and Mynt (Valentin Weilenmann) were born in 1984 in two suburbs of Zurich. Their paths crossed for the first time at the techno parties of the late 90s. The graphic designer and trained hairstylist created video installations and decorations for the club scene in and around Zurich during her youth.
They began to exchange ideas creatively and fall in love with each other. The two moved into the studio of the action artist Tellambach in Kempten, near Wetzikon. There they began to work on their first common pictorial ideas.
An intensive creative period began for the then twenty-four year old couple. The young love was overshadowed by Jasmin’s illness, which caused her ever greater discomfort. She still suffers from the rare and incurable Ehler-Danlos syndrome. All the more she focused on art. For the first time she began to paint her pain as an ornamental world of forms. The two of them looked for ways to show their art and make money. They organized independent exhibitions in and around Zurich. Among other things the group exhibition “Artdiscount” where ideas from the sketchbooks were used to make products. The public agreed with them. In order to give the various events a vessel, they developed the name “schlafendehundewecken” (wakeupthesleepingdog), which derives from the German phrase “Schlafende Hunde soll man nicht Wecken.” (sleeping dogs should not be m awakened). Their interpretation associates the sleeping dogs with the creativity in every human being who has to be awakened.
In 2010 Mynt gained a foothold as a compositor in film and advertising.
Through his participation in Ivan Englers science fiction film “Cargo” (2009), he was now well connected with the filmmakers of Switzerland. He founded his VFX company HiddenFX. Jasmin Polsini completed additional training in visualization and animation to help him enter this industry.
They worked together on Andro Wekuas’ art film “Never Sleep With a Strawberry in Your Mouth”, which premiered at the Kunsthalle Vienna in 2010. “schlafendehundewechen” ran in parallel. An enormous workload had to be mastered. At each of their art events, there was a stand with curious and practical design products, such as Jasmin Polsini’s “Moggs”. Her paintings, whose characteristics were graphic patterns, as well as Mynt’s socio-critical paintings, were gladly bought. Many solo exhibitions in the public space followed.
After several years as a successful visual artist for advertising, film and TV, as a freelance graphic artist and artist, Mynt collapsed at the age of 32. His mother’s illness and his father’s increasing Alzheimer’s as well as the death of his brother were too much. After two years of reorientation, Jasmin Polsini and Mynt decided to focus fully on art and radically change their lives. Painting was to take centre stage. Without financial support and with the least means for new exhibitions, they started all over again at the beginning of 2017.
“schlafendehundewecken” became an art enterprise. Since then their art has been shown in Florence, at art fairs such as Art Innsbruck and in galleries, and curated for group exhibitions.
She also illustrates her socially critical motifs in magazines and trade journals. Jasmin Polsini, together with her association, is committed to helping those affected by the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and is active in health policy in Switzerland.
The uncompromising artistic creative urge and the belief in the creative power in man distinguish the two today 35-year-old artists. Their unorthodox, surreal style is memorable and inspires a rapidly growing audience. Today they both live from their exhibitions, commissioned works, and their own creativity.
schlafendehundewecken.ch
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