About

With his pasta roller, Urs Bratschi conjures up the most colourful, crazy and elaborate pasta creations in the form of ravioli, tortelloni, farfalle, rigatoni, tagliatelle, pappardelle or spaghetti. They amaze and immediately fascinate the viewer. “Impossible” is not in Urs’s vocabulary where this is concerned. He has produced countless new creations and is constantly developing new techniques. As he himself says, fresh ideas are bubbling up in his mind like boiling water for the pasta.

Urs also works as a software engineer, but it is not entirely clear to him where to draw the line between his vocation and his hobby. He needs both in his life: his work with computers and his artwork made using pasta dough. For him, these two quite different things are still closely linked: both represent a creative activity; an artform.

The pasta

Urs’s home-made pasta dough is made from white spelt flour, organic eggs and coarse-grained durum wheat. Only natural products such as turmeric (yellow), spinach (green) or beetroot (red) are used for dyeing. For Urs, synthetic food colourings are out of the question. He also tries to use as many organic ingredients as possible. The patterns on the pasta were not created by a painting technique, but by dough of different colours which is cut, shaped and reassembled. Urs has developed his own technique for this: he integrates the pattern that is later placed on the pasta into a (his) so-called 3-dimensional dough model. After that, cross sections of it are made, from which the desired pasta shape is created at the end of this process, which requires a delicate touch, experience and patience. The most important ingredient, however, is Urs’s passion.

The disease

In 2014, Urs received a fateful diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease. This shook up and changed his life significantly. After he had got over the initial shock, Urs came to terms with the disease during an intensive process. So he now has a different understanding of the world today and has also learned a great deal about himself. He even has the feeling that he has more positive thoughts than before his diagnosis. Urs also sees a connection between his art and his disease. Although he would probably make pasta even if he didn’t have Parkinson’s disease, it wouldn’t be in this artistic way. This is because today, he knows exactly what he wants and implements it. He has thus built a very special relationship with his disease: he has made peace with it – the two now belong together. Nevertheless, it is and always will be a very emotional topic for him, and yet he deals with it very openly.

Exhibitions

Where to find him

www.theholyart.com (Interview)

www.mutigdurchsleben.ch (Interview mit MUTIGdurchsLEBEN)

www.telem1.ch (Uf Bsuech, 05.07.2023)

www.nfz.ch (Article, 06.03.2023)

www.artfacts.net (Profile)

www.parkinsonslife.eu (Interview)

www.artistcloseup.com (Profile)

www.kultur-rheinfelden.ch (Profile)

www.aargauerzeitung.ch (Article, 25.10.2022)

www.aargauerzeitung.ch (Article, 30.10.2021)

www.neurologie.insel.ch (Video «Feeding the Spark»)

www.bzbasel.ch (Article Rainbow Art Festival, 05.11.2022)

www.facebook.com (Profile)

www.instagram.com (Profile)