Ian Waelder

Ian Waelder’s artistic practice explores memory and trace by isolating archival histories and language in relation to his biography, working through the poetics of the accident and the repurposing of the discarded. Waelder’s work spans a wide range of media, including photography, sculpture, sound, and installation. Central to his practice is a sense of porosity, allowing an encounter between stories and perspectives from the past and present. By using everyday materials such as newspapers, paper maché and cardboard, he gives shape to what has not been archived, photographed, recorded, or written, reflecting on the conditions and politics of memory formation. In addition to his practice as an artist, Waelder is the founder of Printer Fault Press, a publishing house and collaborative platform that provides space for the work of fellow artists, curators and writers.

Biography

Selected Works

Ian Waelder

Variations of a Shoe (Clock), 2025
Reused glass display cases, dust, fixative, plastic wrap, adhesive tape, handmade child-sized wooden shoe last, modeling clay, the artist’s mother’s eyeglass lens
120 × 140 × 41,50 cm

Ian Waelder

All Of My Shoes (Tempo), 2025
Old brass door handle with traces of air-dry porcelain; cardboard shoe insert with beeswax, raw cardboard shoe insert, water dripping system

Ian Waelder

Bystander (Ankle), 2025
Air-dry porcelain, wood filler, shoe lace
8 × 16,5 × 7,5 cm

Ian Waelder

1993 – (Figure), 2023
Gelatin silver print on Ilford resin coated paper
24 × 17,8 cm

Ian Waelder

Grasping, 2025
Plotter print on canvas covered with a layer of raw linen with air-dry porcelain, marker, pencil, stained with diluted ink, glue, detergent, oil, collaged tissue paper
160 × 130 cm

Ian Waelder

Figure in Jacket (Breeze), 2025
Plotter print on canvas with marker, covered with a layer of raw linen with marker, stains of diluted ink, glue, detergent, oil, collaged tissue paper and newspaper cut
195 × 163 cm

Ian Waelder

Stain & repair (Handle with care), 2023
Inkjet print on cotton canvas covered with a layer of raw linen with water stains, ink, glue, tissue paper, glass cleaner, pencil, tippex and felt-tip pen
390 × 163 cm

Ian Waelder

The car of our time, 2021
Plotter print on cotton canvas covered by a layer of raw linen with oil stick, wood frame
263 × 196 cm

Ian Waelder

The Car Of Our Time (Background vehicle), 2021
Made in collaboration with the artist’s father Juan Waelder.
Esparto and plaster on raw DM plinth the height of his father’s shoulder (135cm)
38 × 76 × 166 cm (including plinth)