Anton KAESTNER

Born in Geneva in 1968, Anton Kaestner is a Swiss painter whose artistic approach goes beyond the boundaries of the visible to explore the depths of beauty. Growing up in the heart of the natural beauty and cultural richness of his native country, he was influenced from a young age by his grandfather, a craftsman and artist, who sowed the seed of creativity in him. This family influence shaped a deeply rooted artistic sensibility, making painting a real necessity.

It is in 1993 that Anton Kaestner begins painting privately, exploring the expressive possibilities of acrylic on modest formats before broadening his approach. His attraction to lyrical abstraction and abstract expressionism reflects a quest for meaning beyond appearances. Although an atheist, he finds a spiritual resonance in his exploration of the universal truths of nature and life, giving his works a singular metaphysical depth.

His international business career, which took him from the United States to Morocco via Belgium and France, has enriched his visual language. Immersing himself in the local cultures and art scenes of each place, he has forged an eclectic and cosmopolitan style. Despite the demands of his professional life, painting has remained a secret meditation for him, an intimate space of liberation and introspection.

In 2021, after retiring, Anton Kaestner moves to Paris and devotes himself fully to his art. He then developes a unique approach, working with acrylic, metallic pigments and sprays on recycled extruded plexiglass. This contemporary medium, at once smooth, shiny and fragile, offers a reflective and dynamic dimension to his works. Painting on the back of the plexiglass implies a total absence of visual control during the creative process. This voluntary constraint forces him to let himself be guided by the random and to welcome the unexpected, echoing the process of revelation in photography.

This intuitive exploration gives rise to compositions rich in transparencies and mirror effects, which play with light and the surrounding space. The successive layers of paint create fluctuating depths and complex compositional values, giving each work an ascetic and meditative quality. Far from figurative conventions, his creations remain resolutely abstract, sometimes evoking the transparency and luminosity of stained glass while acting as interior mirrors.

His artistic approach rejects any manifest emotion or theoretical construction. It instead aims for an experience of being, an exploration of reality in its visible and invisible dimensions. Through a subtle play between the details perceived up close and the whole revealed from a distance, Kaestner encourages the viewer to undertake an introspective journey, inviting an expansion of consciousness.

In 2023, he decides to share his work with the public. His first solo show, entitled “Échos” and held in Paris at the end of 2024, is an immediate success. His works quickly enter private collections in France, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands, affirming his position on the contemporary art scene.

Anton Kaestner continues his artistic exploration today with a humble and introspective approach. For him, painting is a daily exercise in questioning and growth. Inspired by the words of Jean Bazaine – “Daily practice multiplies the passion to see” – he considers each canvas as a space for reflection on the human condition, an invitation to see beyond the obvious.