(0)
Heinz Julen
A multidisciplinary artist
Even though he hails from one of the region’s most prominent business families, Heinz Julen is a free soul who’s willingly nonconformist. An artist, architect, and hotelier, he wears many hats and has left an undeniable mark on Zermatt.
He’s someone who never does things the way others do them. Even his name, Heinz (not Hans), takes people by surprise. Its origins date back to the 1960s, when his father, who owned a restaurant in Findeln, promised a faithful-customer-turned-friend that he would name his son after him. That man was none other than Mister Heinz himself, of the world famous ketchup family!
He was born on February 29th. A sign of fate, no doubt. With roots firmly planted in the Matter Valley, Heinz Julen grew up among three sisters, pastures covered in flowers, and a glorious skyline of Alpine summits. As a young man he loved drawing and painting. His first sketches were of the Matterhorn, which he displayed on the side of the road in Findeln, before moving into his first studio at the age of 16.
He went on to attend art school in Sion but could not stay away from his mountains for long, so at 20 years old, he built his own gallery and art studio in the centre of Zermatt. Collages, sculpture, you name it — he wanted to explore it all and began to exhibit. In 1990, when he was only 26, he launched the Vernissage cultural centre. Its goal was to unite an art gallery, cinema, performance theatre, bar, and nightclub in a space where blockbusters, indie projects, and even old movies filmed by his father could all co-exist. But when he sought to furnish it, he couldn’t find anything that fit his multifunctional space. What he was searching for simply didn’t exist… so he designed it and built it himself. Next came his hotel Backstage, some chalets, and then lofts, all with that same unique touch that lies at the intersection of art, design, and the magic of the Alps.
God, the mountains and art
You can have your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground, “it’s all a question of passion,” says Julen. Art and mysticism consumed him, but he was frustrated by figurative art, as “it’s impossible to make anything as beautiful and moving as nature.” So, he chose a different approach for his Mountain Cubes, making a series of 30 cm sheet metal cubes which he threw off the tops of mountains, later recollecting and exhibiting them. The cubes were broken, bashed, and reshaped by the very mountain itself as they fell. “By releasing them to the mountains, I felt free,” recalls Heinz.
More recently, Heinz Julen collected and upcycled other people’s litter by transforming it at random. Then a chance encounter with (the very well known) contemporary artist Peter Doig inspired him to begin painting again… this time, however, in his own way. His large-scale paintings represent the mountains and glaciers, or his studio in Findeln, but are meant for metamorphosis. The crumpled paper is later reclaimed and reworked into three dimensions. The action takes precedence over the object, an attempt to define the most important thing of all: “the mystery of life.” His latest creations will be on display at Kunsträume, at the Backstage Hotel, beginning mid-February 2024.
