Lives and works in Berlin and Switzerland.

Jon Merz is a Swiss contemporary painter whose immersive canvases evoke a dreamlike interplay between abstraction and figuration. Rooted in an intuitive exploration of memory, sensation, and the subconscious, Merz’s work invites viewers into vibrant emotional landscapes – spaces that defy conventional perspectives and instead function as «mental mirrors», reflecting internal states of being.

At the heart of Merz’s practice lies a visionary approach to painting. His works are not tied to external reality but reach beyond it – into imagined, felt, and often unspoken realms of human experience. Each painting becomes a kind of portal: a space for projection, introspection, and inner movement. These are not depictions of the world as it is, but visions of how it might be felt, remembered, or dreamt.

Merz draws on a wide array of art historical references, from the ethereal color studies of Impressionism to the raw emotion of Expressionism and the gestural intensity of Abstract Expressionism. Yet his style is distinctly his own: fluid, poetic, and deeply introspective. His paintings often feature dissolving horizons, ephemeral forms, and shifting chromatic fields, all of which contribute to a sense of atmospheric dislocation and expanded perception.

He describes his works as «Mirrors» – not reflections of the outside world, but of the interior one. Each composition emerges through a process of layering and erasure, a method that reflects the way memory and vision operate: fractured, nonlinear, emotionally charged. In this sense, Merz’s paintings function not only as records of feeling, but as vessels for imaginative insight.

Beyond their visual allure, Merz’s paintings operate as affective environments – spaces of encounter that encourage slowness, contemplation, and resonance. His recent solo presentation at the Château de Gruyères in Switzerland brought his work into dialogue with the historical architecture and surrounding natural landscape, highlighting the timeless and otherworldly quality of his visual language.

Through his work, Merz reclaims painting as a site of poetic and visionary inquiry – a medium through which the unseen, the felt, and the imagined can take form. His evolving practice offers a meditation on how we see, remember, and dream.

Jon Merz © Albrecht Fuchs

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«Welle», 2022
signed, dated verso
oil on Belgian linen, wooden stretcher
100 x 80 x 2.7 cm
(JDM.00004.M)

«Fall of the rebel angel», 2021
signed, dated verso
oil on Belgian linen, wooden stretcher
40 x 50 x 2 cm
(JDM.00002.M)

«Untitled (Sky 5)», 2023
signed, dated verso
watercolor on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
framed 34.4 x 25.8 x 2.5 cm
with museum glass
(JDM.00010.D)

«Untitled (Sky 4)», 2024
signed, dated verso
watercolor on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
framed 34.4 x 25.8 x 2.5 cm
with museum glass
(JDM.00009.D)

«Untitled (Sky 3)», 2024
signed, dated verso
watercolor on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
framed 34.4 x 25.8 x 2.5 cm
with museum glass
(JDM.00008.D)

«Untitled (Sky 2)», 2024
signed, dated verso
watercolor on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
framed 34.4 x 25.8 x 2.5 cm
with museum glass
(JDM.00007.D)

«Untitled (Sky 1)», 2024
signed, dated verso
watercolor on paper
21 x 29.7 cm 
framed 34.4 x 25.8 x 2.5 cm
with museum glass
(JDM.00006.D)

2017 – 2015 Master of Fine Arts, HFBK Hamburg
2015 – 2014 Visiting student, Universität der Künste Berlin
2010 – 2009 Visiting student, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
2009 – 2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Hochschule der Künste Bern
2004 – 2001 Studies of Industrial design, Paris

2024 Swiss Art Awards, finalist
2015 Swiss Art Awards, finalist
2014 IAAB, artist in residency, Berlin
2013 Swiss Art Awards, finalist
2008 SÌM, residency in Reykjavik
2005 New York Red House residency

2024 Le jardin d’eau, Château de Gruyère, Gruyère
2022 Berlin am Meer, Lokal-Int, Biel
2021 Sohn des Glücks, Sauvage Düsseldorf
2019 Parade de monstres, Smallville, Neuchâtel
2018 No regrets, Benzene, Hamburg
2014 Blue, galerie Milieu, Bern
2012 Gegenschlag im Zentrum, Center, Berlin

2025 Introduction, Pascal Robert Gallery, Zurich
2024 Snack, Galerie Lange + Pult, Auvernier
2024 Votive, Hyphastudios, London
2024 Swiss Art Awards, Basel
2024 Summer show, Galerie Mighela Shama, Geneva
2023 Painting academie, Polomarco, Geneva
2021 Plus est en vous, Art môtiers
2021 Corona call, Kunstraum Kreuzlingen
2019 Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthaus Langenthal
2019 Snack, Galerie Lange Pult, Auvernier
2018 Juleutstillingen, Billedgalleri, Haugesund
2018 Toxic Boom Room, Benzene, Hamburg
2017 Masteraustellung, HFBK Hamburg
2015 Swiss art awards, Basel
2015 Going places, Atelier mondial, Basel
2015 Old friends new ideas, galerie Milieu, Bern
2014 Space is the place, IAAB, Berlin
2014 Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthaus Langenthal
2014 Regionale, Kunstverein Freiburg
2013 Swiss Art Awards, Basel
2013 Un signe à l’horizon, Annex14, Bern
2013 Regionale 13, Kunstraum Riehen
2012 Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthalle Bern
2011 Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthalle Bern
2010 Palazzo Wyler, Raum No, Bern
2010 Plattform 10, Ewz Zürich
2010 Sommerlab, Can, Neuchâtel
2010 Fluck Paulus, Fribourg

2017 Bildersammlung 2014-2015, Materialverlag HFBK Hamburg
2014 Blue, galerie milieu, Bern
2011 24 pages, l’artiste l’assistant
2010 Fluck / Paulus
2009 69e biennale de la Samba, exhibition catalogue

2018 Artist talk jon Merz, Rogaland kunstcenter, Stavanger
2018 Spontain painting, Vardafjell highschool, Haugesund

Sammlung der Berner Kantonalbank, Bern
Collections du Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel