Young Pontresina-girl shows colorful portraits
February 4th 1999
(Translation of German newspaper article)
Until February 27th Melinda Hürzeler from Pontresina exhibits her paintings at the Hotel San Gian in St.Moritz-Bad. For her first exhibition she painted colorful portraits and moments of life in an own technique.
(uc) Seventeen-year-old Melinda Hürzeler, grew up in Pontresina, started an apprenticeship as a draftsman in Samedan and now for the first time ever exhibits her works this winter. "Drawing has always been my hobby", says Melinda Hürzeler. She use to draw mainly with pencil and pen, later her art instructor encouraged her to do abstract drawings and that's when she changed pencil for Neocolor. She discovered how characters could be brought out in potrait paintings with simple color planes. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Laurel & Hardy, Elvis Presley are only a few famous faces that Melinda Hürzeler has pictured colorfully, without them looking kitschy. In one of her paintings we see a group of people, but only on a second look do we notice that between shirt collar and the modern headgear are missing faces. Because of the busy city life in Zuerich, she felt like people were running around without heads, explains the young woman. The thought was transformed into a painting. All her paintings develop from ideas and often change again during the working process. An ambition, to enter an Arts career, Melinda Hürzeler does not have at this point. "It is a very nice hobby", she says and states that she wants to finish her apprenticeship first: "I could perhaps not paint anymore, if I was forced to paint." The exhibition at the Hotel San Gian came up spontaneously. A friend mentioned to her that manager Francois Hofer would make his rooms available for young artists. Even though it took courage to step before the public for the first time, she stated that it was an overall nice experience. She received many good critiques: "One may like this work better, another that one, but I have only heard positive reactions so far", Melinda Hürzeler remarks on the balanced reactions.