Hugo Schaer was born in Lucerne in 1952. After studying at the Hitzkirch Teachers’ College, he improved his artistic skills on courses at the Lucerne School of Arts and during study visits to the Académie Grande Chaumière in Paris.
Since 1980, he has presented his works in exhibitions, realised works in „Kunst am Bau“ (art in archtecture) and, together with the sculptor Thomas Birve, founded a puppet theatre that performs internationally. Their interdisciplinary theatre and art projects, such as ‘Gilgamesh’ (1995) in the Guber quarry in Alpnach, have also caused a furore.
Hugo Schaer travelled by train to China and by cargo ship to India.
In 1991 he builds the studio house ‘Herber’ in Kleinteil, Giswil, with the architect Hanspeter Bysäth.
In 1995 he marries Iryna Tkachenko and sets up a studio in Kyiv. From 1997, the video works of the ‘Kyiv Trilogy’ are created.
From 1996 to 2000, the artist was a member of the central board of the Swiss Society of Painters, Sculptors and Architects (GSMBA).
As artistic director of the internationally active agency Steiner Sarnen Schweiz, Hugo Schaer conceives and designs brandlands, museums and exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, including the wine tourism destination ‘Loisium’ in Langenlois.
In 2005, Hugo and Iryna Schaer settled in Odessa and founded their label SCHAERODESSA. They produce the short films of the ‘Odessa Trilogy’, which are shown at international film festivals such as the Solothurn Film Festival, Molodist Kyiv and the Festival de Cannes.
From 2005 to 2009, Hugo Schaer conceived and realised the ‘Wine Culture Centre Shabo’ near Odessa as art director, which was awarded several prizes.
In 2010, after a year-long sailing trip from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, Liguria became the new home, where the studio house ‘Casa dell’arte’ was built in Vasia.
Here he creates oil paintings and sculptures in wood, bronze and tin, since 2014 ceramics in collaboration with Fabbrica Ceramiche Giuseppe Mazzotti in Albisola and since 2019 the light sculptures FARO made of Corten steel in collaboration with the metal construction company Daniele Sgro in Imperia and bronze sculptures at the Fonderia Artistica De Carli in Volvera.
Urs Bugmann
CV Hugo Schaer von Urs Bugmann DE 2024
Curriculum Vitae in pictures, Video 2024, 23‘18
Iryna Schaer-Tkachenko was born in Kyiv, Ukraine.
1991 PhD in economics, 1994 the associate professor (docent) at the Economy and Management Department of the State Technological University of Ukraine.
In 1995 she completed a program for university professors at Purdue University in the United States (international marketing, strategic management).
In 1995 she married swiss painter Hugo Schaer. Since then lived and worked in Switzerland, organised projects of cultural exchange between Ukraine and Switzerland, Germany, Italy, arranged and carried out cultural tours into Ukraine.
2005 Sailing trip with Hugo Schaer from the Adriatic Sea to Odessa on the Black Sea. After they settled in the port and art metropolis.
2005 – 2010 co-founder and executive producer of SCHAERODESSA, Ukraine. Together with Hugo Schaer implemented various videoart and film projects, including ‘The Kyiv Trilogy’ and “The Odessa Trilogy”, which short films were shown at international film festivals (incl. Solothurn, CH, Kyiv, UA, Cannes, FR). Project manager for the concept and realization of the “Wine Culture Centre SHABO” and for the Concepts of the different Museums in Ukraine and Georgia.
2010 Sailing with Hugo Schaer from Black Sea to the Ligurian Sea. Since 2012 co-founder of ARTEVASIA, Imperia, Liguria.
2016 – 2019 organisation & guidance of own cultural tours into Georgia, as well as to Kyiv and Odessa.
Since March 2022 working as a volunteer with the Ukrainian diaspora in Imperia, Liguria.
