Markus Andreas Rinderknecht born in Zürich, Switzerland in 1975. He spent his early child hood in a small town embedded in rolling hills carved by glaciers in the Limmattal outside of Zürich. With some extended international travel he spent most of his life in Zürich until migrating to the US in 2013.

Among the art genres which influences his work is ART BRUT, ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, BAUHAUS, CONCEPTUAL ART, DADA, POP ART and SURREALISM.

His early works mainly consist of oil pastel paintings, drawings and poems with the subject of observing the human behavior and condition. An observer of the surrounding energies reflected through the own experience. The task almost becomes scientific. Measuring and documenting vibrations. Drawn to fully experience each moment as a certain truth. A connected subjective reality. A diary of existence. An actor phasing in and out of the situational play on the periphery of spaces. The collected experiences lead to explorations in conceptual and performance art which influenced his installations. These works were mostly instant pieces that were unique to the circumstances and the settings in which they appeared and not to be duplicated.

In the early 2000's, influenced by street art and exposed to local subculture he produced a large quantity of work under the synonim 2107 / The riot movement. Referred to as the 2107 phase.

Critical thinking, questioning the status quo of modern conveniences, how the self is interacting with these ever-changing circumstances and a search for a space beyond. Reflected experiences deconstructed and reconstructed where art meets science.

The encounter with Architect and Inventor of Chromachron, Tian Harlan had the biggest influence on all work produced after they met in 2002. The beginning of the color time phase. During the 10 years at Atelier Harlan, Markus Rinderknecht created some of the most relevant pieces that still influence his work today.

His current work and explorations are probably best described as "sculptural landscapes". Story telling with the objective to visualize stages of the process. Sculpturing and photography as the main medium. Various cameras serve as a quiver of perspective to collect staged or randomly encountered reality bites. Something already in existence waiting to be discovered or rediscovering through interaction with the found. Referencing the word plastik in archeology since a major part is searching or researching, the work is to sculpture with the 4th dimension time. A conductor of a series of endless experiences ever changing. There is no aspiration to create a final piece of work as each composition of a “sculptural landscape” is connected and has more of a transcendental, metaphysical purpose. 

Guided by a sacred ritual, a vital principal as the process is the truth and time becomes relative the expression Gesamtkunstwerk / total work of art as used by philosopher Trahndorff, composer Wagner by Le Corbusier in architecture as well as applied to film does round out the mindset and ties back to the artists strong believe in Joseph Beuys's specific definition Soziale Plastik, Soziale Skulptur.

Markus Rinderknecht currently lives and works in the Bay Area.