Fine Art nominee

The German born photographer Patrick Lambertz, challenges stereotypes about Switzerland with an ironic twist in his latest photographic works titled “Châlets of Switzerland”.
Although Switzerland is comparatively small, there are more world-famous clichés about it than about most countries: chocolate, luxury watches, banks, cheese, Heidi and the mountains, to name just a few. Among those idealized Swiss images is the romantic wooden mountain hut - the Châlet - with open log fires and a rustic interior, embedded in high mountains and surrounded by virgin snow. Patrick Lambertz consciously utilizes this cliché with his photo series “Châlets of Switzerland”.
"The word Châlet, in its original meaning, described nothing but a barrack or shack. And barrack is generally associated with an old hut or an old building. With this ambiguity of Châlets in mind, I have spent a couple of years searching for suitable photographic objects in the winter time. On my trips through a Switzerland often glossed-over by such stereotypes, I came across a kind of parallel universe - the “Châlets” far away from the glamorous world of the idealized image. That was the starting point of this series, an actual typology of overlooked Swiss houses.”

Patrick was born 1972 and raised in Germany, Ghana and Belgium. He initially studied filmmaking in Berlin, working with artists like Wim Wenders, Rosa von Praunheim and Shirin Neshat. He later moved to Switzerland working for the brand X-BIONIC as Head of Marketing and COO. He started exhibiting his work when he was 18 years old and received awards for his early photography and work as a filmmaker. Today he lives in Switzerland with his wife and three kids.

Awards
1993 - German Youth Photography Award
1994 - German Youth Photography Award
2000 - German Short Film Award - Nomination
2002 - German Camera Award Filmstiftung NRW

Exhibitions
1993 - German Youth Photography Award, Group Exhibition, Leipzig
1994 - German Youth Photography Award, Group Exhibition, Leipzig
2019 - PhotoSchweiz, Zürich
2019 - Gallery Breitenhof, Cultural Commission of City of Altendorf, Switzerland
2019 - Hall of Frame Studiogallery Lachen, Switzerland
2019 - Belvedere Zurich, Switzerland (Upcoming September 2019)
2019 - Swissness Applied, Kunsthaus Glarus, Güterschuppen, Switzerland (Upcoming October 2019)
2020 - Galerie Reinart Schaffhausen - Group Show AQUADROM II
2020 - RENDEZVOUS DES IMAGES - Group Show
2022 - artKarlsruhe, International ArtFair - Works
2022 Hartmann Projects, Stuttgart