Ulrich Bleiker grew up on a farm in Toggenburg, Switzerland, together with 18 siblings. Besides working as a farmer, Bleiker also worked as a bricklayer in a factory in Herisau, where he was allowed to take some of the leftover cable scraps home with him. From them, he would form toys for his two daughters which he then encased in cement. Once he retired in 1979, he started to create free-standing figures made out of cement, wire, iron and scrap materials. His repertoire of figures includes animals and people, some of which form larger groups, such as alpine lifts or funerals. He also manufactured houses and churches.
Bleiker’s work was soon to be discovered by museums and collectors. His captivatingly simple designs in the raw material of cement make him one of the leading representatives of the Swiss Art Brut. Today, his works can be found, amongst others, in The Musée Art Brut, Lausanne and the Museum im Lagerhaus in St. Gallen.

We thank Dorothee Haarer for the help cataloguing this work.