Artist Statement

In a previous life, as globalisation and Reaganism were conquering the world, I was CFO of a listed company before becoming a private equity investor. Observing the internal workings of the financial system revealed to me that the rule of law had been transformed into an instrument of domination rather than a guarantor of fairness. The excessive return expectations of certain investors led to strategies in which legality, shaped by powerful interest groups, replaced moral ethics.

The consequences of the greed in the realm of social media transformed me into a dissident of neo-capitalism and a fervent critic of the manipulation of crowds whose attention is stolen to generate insatiable desires. The surveillance model described by Foucault is gradually being replaced by direct control of minds through targeted information delivered via smartphones, initially for commercial purposes, and subsequently for political control. My work deals with this new form of power and is based on my observations of seemingly banal phenomena that, in reality, are pernicious due to their unintended consequences. They transform individual behaviours, hierarchies, and power relations, and degrade our democratic societies.

Overcoming and transcending conceptual or physical constraints is at the heart of my work. The search for solutions leads to discoveries, and production errors enrich the metaphor. Thus, Abstract Library, inspired by a bookcase I designed to accompany me through my many moves, evolved into a reflection on migrations -- the rarely discussed ones of expatriates and the wealthy, equally destabilising for nations, this time from the top down. By revisiting this design through isometry, I recreated an intriguing 3D illusion. The bookcase represents my home and my cultural heritage, and, by making it mobile, connects it to the virtual forms of data that govern us, even in our private lives.

The same is true for my series Post Lucem Tenebrae, where I inlayed the terms and conditions of our smartphone applications in transparent resin blocks, where the texts are perfectly identifiable but illegible due to the superimposition of multiple layers: Symbolic tombstones of billions of seemingly insignificant and transparent transactions that are in fact the essential instrument of contemporary power: the contracts of neo-feudalism.

Influenced by Rothko, Robert Ryman, and Richard Serra, as well as the Swiss school of contemporary architecture, I use minimalist aesthetics and geometry—constructed or deconstructed—as a logical and detached exploration of the chaos that surrounds us. Aesthetic perceptiveness guides me in the materialisation of forms, composition, the exaggeration of proportions, and the beauty or coldness of textures and colours. The combination results in harmonious, high-quality works made for posterity, with an unsettling je-ne-sais-quoi. They serve as reminders that our times are immoderate and chaotic, full of contradictions between comfort and dissatisfaction, security and violence, freedom and libertarianism, and that beauty, which only humans can truly feel, is the ultimate guarantee of our humanity.

Bio

Naedt is a Franco-Swiss artist currently based in Barcelona. He studied Business Administration at ESCP in Paris and had a career as CFO of large corporations and later as a partner in an alternative investment firm in Switzerland and the UK. A radical turning point came during his time in Montevideo, where he joined the Contemporary Art Foundation (FAC), studied art and photography, and collaborated with leading regional artists. There, he began developing a body of work centred on visual and conceptual exploration.

Naedt's former profession and nomadic life deeply inform his artistic practice. His conceptual focus examines the structures of power — exploring the intersections between money and technology, the construction of dominance and submission, and the inequalities and dystopias shaping contemporary society.

Since 2012, he has exhibited in galleries, alternative spaces, and international fairs. His first exhibition took place in Thonon-les-Bains, in a house designed in collaboration with Kaufmann Widrig Architekten and featuring his own interior design, demonstrating his sensitivity to space and material. With Le nouveau riche (2018), he consolidated a reflective and critical line of inquiry.

He is a member of La Escocesa, fábrica creativa, and of the artist collective NOMEVOY.

Selected exhibitions

  • 2018, Solo exhibition “Le Nouveau Riche,” CASA26, Thonon-Les-Bains, F

  • 2022, Solo exhibition “Post Lucem Tenebrae,” Uxval Gochez Gallery, Barcelona

  • 2023, Collective exhibition, JUST/LX Art Fair, Lisbon

  • 2023, Collective exhibition, Arte in Nuvola Art Fair, Rome

  • 2024, Solo exhibition “Abstract Library 3=2” Espacio M, Punta del Este, UY, curation Patricia Bentancur

  • 2024, Collective exhibition “El Ser en Escena,” Espacio Verdi, Montevideo, curation Jacqueline Lacasa

  • 2025, Collective exhibition, CasCaDas Art Space, Barcelona, curation Dr Fiona Fell

  • 2025, Collective exhibition, SWAB Contemporary Art Fair, Barcelona

  • 2025, Collective exhibition, Casa R.A.R.O. Barcelona

  • 2026 (Planned) Collective exhibition, ART BAJA, Todos Santos, MX