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Melissa Staiger

  • News
  • About
  • Organic Form
  • Rooted
  • In the Belly of the Empress
  • Reversals
  • Silkscreen
  • Installation
  • Contact

Prisma at Hebel_121

April 28, 2025

Artist Statement: Prisma – Hebel_121, Basel

On view: June 14 – August 9, 2025
Opening, June 14 at 4PM

I create large-scale paintings, installations, and works on paper that investigate color, spatial rhythm, and the emotional resonance of light. My process often begins with a physical space—as it did with Prisma, where the architecture of Hebel_121 became both a container and collaborator. I started by analyzing the floor plan to understand the scale and how natural light might radiate through the windows and into the street.

Color is my driving force. I’m captivated by its ability to shift perception, anchor memory, and create a sense of presence. My materials—acrylic gouache, cotton rag paper, painted canvas, and silkscreen inks—serve as conduits for this exploration. I don’t try to suggest light or mood; I build it, saturate it, and let it spill into the viewer’s space. 

At the heart of Prisma is a central textile installation: painted canvas rolls, shaped with cardboard stencils and hung with grommets, cascading in wave-like arcs from wall to floor. The edges are hand-cut in curves to heighten the sense of movement. These forms evolved from my Rooted Series, where bands of color met at a central point. This time, I wanted a work that could travel lightly—but unfold boldly, radiating color like a signal through the gallery window.

The acrylic gouache works on paper push the wave into new territory—fluid, organic, and psychedelic. Saturated colors echo bodily curves and plant life, while metallic paint catches light like a shifting mirror.

Alongside the installation, my sketchbook is on view. It reveals the process behind the project—filled with Polaroids, tape experiments, color studies, and intuitive notes. This “thinking space” is part of the exhibition itself, offering visitors a direct connection to the playfulness of the creative process.

Finally, Prisma debuts a limited edition of silkscreen prints in muted teal, earthy red, and fluorescent pink—colors chosen for how they change with light and temperature. Repeated motifs and lyrical lines echo earlier works, while hinting at new directions still to come.

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Prisma at Hebel_121 in Basel, Switzerland 🇨🇭 exhibition images.

Wave-like paintings, a central textile installation, and an open sketchbook, spilling color into the street and inviting viewers into the playfulness of my process.

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Prisma is open at Hebel_121 today, Sat. Aug 2 from 4-6pm. To make an appointment outside of those hours email hebel121@bluewin.ch.

The exhibition is on view until Aug. 9th.
Thrilled to be back in Birmingham at @theoldbailey.gallery today, Sunday July 27th for my solo exhibition "Saturn Returns". The gallery is open today from 12-9pm!

Closing Reception starts at 6pm. I am hanging around all day, stop by.

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Sketchbook on display for Prisma on view until August 9th at Hebel_121 in Basel, Switzerland. 

Open today, Sat. July 26 from 4-6 and by appointment.

Contact at hebel121@bluewin.ch for details.

*Selected images from Prisma Sketchbook by Melissa Sta
Open Today, July 20th from 12-6pm.

SOLAR RETURN - Melissa Staiger, work created for 2024 Alabama residency on display at the Old Bailey Gallery @theoldbailey.gallery

Meet the artist + Closing Reception:  Sunday, July 27, 6-9PM

Old Bailey Gall
Prisma is open at Hebel_121 today, Sat. July 19 from 4-6pm. To make an appointment outside of those hours email hebel121@bluewin.ch.

The exhibition is on view until Aug. 9th.

Pictured with Gerda Maise, Daniel Gottin, Corinne Ulman and new friends!
SOLAR RETURN - Melissa Staiger, work created for 2024 Alabama residency on display at the Old Bailey Gallery @theoldbailey.gallery

Open Sunday's in July ---12 -6PM or by appointment

Meet the artist + Closing Reception:  Sunday, July 27, 6-9PM
I’m honored that my painting Organic Form No. 4 ,2023, 36 x 48 in. was selected as the Summer 2025 cover art for The Westchester Review—A Literary Journal that champions craft and voice. @westcheste
SOLAR RETURN - Melissa Staiger, work created for 2024 Alabama residency on display at the Old Bailey Gallery @theoldbailey.gallery

Open Sunday's in July 12 -6PM or by appointment

Meet the artist + Closing Reception:  Sunday, July 27, 6-9PM

im
Happy Summer 🌞 Solstice from Basel, Switzerland! So happy to be here for friendship, family & art. XO 💟
Melissa Staiger – Prisma
Hebelstrasse 121, 4056 Basel 🇨🇭

Opening: Saturday, June 14, 4PM
On View: June 14–August 9, 2025
Open Sat, 4–6 PM or by appointment, it coincides with Art Basel week ✨, hours are e
Congratulations @makemeorange , Marsha Staiger Mom in your two person exhibition with Kathleen Callery at the @athenaeumnvfaa . I was lucky to see it last week. You can visit the @torpedofactoryartists to see it in her studio. 

Seen here with her gr