1. Exhibition view of "Heidi Bucher - Metamorphosen I", © Estate of Heidi Bucher
This interview started with a distant memory. A few years ago, more or less three years to be precise, while I was still living in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, my friend Anne-Cécile Foulon, then the press representative at the Kunstmuseum Bern and Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, sent me a press invitation to the preview of the exhibition "Heidi Bucher, Metamorphosen I." At the time, I didn’t know much about Heidi Bucher’s work. In fact, I had never heard of her. Out of curiosity, and intrigued by the story of this fascinating figure, I decided to attend the press preview the very next day.
"Heidi Bucher, Metamorphosen I" introduced me not only to Bucher’s unique and powerful body of work, but also briefly to her two children’s, Mayo and Indigo, who were present at the press conference. We exchanged a few words, nothing particularly remarkable in the moment, but the encounter stayed in our mind and thus followed them on social media shortly after.
Three years later, while developing a new project, I felt the urge to reach out to both of them. I wanted to explore Heidi Bucher’s legacy through the perspective of those who knew her best. Mayo and Indigo generously accepted the invitation, and we scheduled an online interview.
What follows is the transcription of that recent conversation. It offers a personal and thoughtful glimpse into Heidi Bucher’s artistic vision, her creative process, and the ongoing work of preserving and sharing her legacy through the eyes of her family.
Biography
Indigo Bucher (1961*) lives in Lanzarote (Spain), where he first arrived in the early 1980s, following his mother who had fallen in love with the island. In 1984, she invited him to visit a group of ruins she had discovered, and he quickly connected with the place. In 1987, Indigo returned with Heidi to begin restoring the ruins. He continues to care for the estate today, dedicating himself to its preservation and daily upkeep of this place.
Mayo Bucher (1963*), is an artist and curator, originally trained as a graphic designer. Together with his brother Indigo they take intensive care for the estate of their parents, Heidi Bucher and Carl Bucher, both renowned Swiss artists.
2. Photograph of the Bucher family, June 1972, Los Angeles, from left to right: Carl, Indigo, Heidi and Mayo, © Estate of Heidi Bucher
Q1. What was it like growing up with Heidi as your mom?
Indigo Bucher:
I took my distance from Heidi Bucher quite early. I left Switzerland at 18 years old. It wasn’t always easy, Heidi and Carl would sometimes argue in front of their children, which created a tension I didn’t want to live with.
Heidi was in Greece in 1960/61 and dreamed of buying a ruin-house in Mykonos, but her family did not help, and the dream did not come true. Until later Lanzarote became a kind of realistic dream instead the house here is white, simple, open to the light. In a way, I made her dream come true, but with my feet on the ground and my personal touch. There was something healing in that, making a vision financially viable, rooted in place that my mother love and inspired her in her works.
Mayo Bucher:
They were both very warm-hearted people, but being obsessive artists, there was always a competitive dynamic between them.
Our father Carl Bucher (who obviously had the advantage of being a male artist) was much more commercially successful and visible to the public during Heidi's lifetime, while she had to work even harder to make her mark.
Having spent my whole life in Switzerland, I was very close to both my parents, while keeping enough distance in my own way. Immediately after training as a graphic designer from 1981-1986, I continued my studies as an artist at the ‘Akademie der angewandten Künste’ in Vienna, where I attended the ‘painting class’ taught by Heidi's dear friend Maria Lassnig, one of the few artist colleagues with whom she was in close contact.
As I recovered, it felt very natural to often work in parallel as an assistant to one of our parents. So, it was both; a privilege and a challenge to grow up in an artist family.
Q2. Were there early signs that Heidi (Bucher) would take such an unconventional path in art?
Mayo Bucher:
Our memories are different. Indigo and I were both sent away to boarding school quite early on, sort of 'thrown out of the nest'. Basically, because our parents separated, and Heidi (Bucher) needed her own space to grow as an independent woman and artist.
As a child, it wasn't obvious to me 'how' relevant Heidi's work was in an art historical sense. But somehow, I always had a deeper sense of its great importance. But unfortunately, the broader awareness and sincere understanding of it only grew with time.
My own artistic career began in 1980, when I first studied graphic design at the 'Kunstgewerbeschule' in Zurich. This was the same legendary art school where Heidi had been educated thirty-five years earlier. Our mother then kindly let me move into her studio on Weinbergstrasse in Zurich from 1981 to 1985 (which she had left shortly before to move to her parents' house in Winterthur).
In retrospect, it was almost prophetic for me that my own first apartment and studio was the same place where Heidi began her legendary 'skinnings' and where she made all the works in her stunning 'Borg' series. Significantly, 'Borg' was originally the name she gave to the 'cold room' of the former butcher's shop.
Both Indigo and I now understand how fearless and radical our mother was, but it was obviously very difficult to explain to us as children. Looking back, I have always tried to approach both our parents' estates as artistic projects rather than personal legacies.
Indigo Bucher:
Maybe once. By the time, the whole family was living under one roof in Hollywood (USA). Heidi and Carl would work upstairs in the attic while Mayo, his friends and I were downstairs. I remember being glued to the TV at the time, probably watching cartoons.
During this time, Heidi Bucher was creating her “Body Shell” series, while Carl Bucher was doing his “Glowing Sculpture” with Polyester. They loved working there, they influenced each other there, they loved this attic so much, even though Carl had a studio elsewhere in the city.
In the meantime, we were always doing things, fighting, playing, making strange objects in the garden with Mayo and his friends.
During this time, our family life was chaotic and intense. My first love, Maila, I was only seven when we lived in Zurich, I still remember the flat near Zurich train station. When my parents separated, she brought some kind of balance to the household. At the time, Heidi didn’t want to separate, but Mayo and I had to help her see it. Carl was too self-centred for her and the kind of spirit she needed in a stable relation, between two artists.
She thus lived for a long time in a cooling room of an old Butcher Shop in Zurich. She was suffering from the move and the separation, because she didn’t accept it to herself. In the meantime, Heidi had a strong, uncompromising character. She didn’t hesitate to confront curators, to demand they show her work, who, some of them, showed Carl’s work. It was hard for women at that time, and she knew it.
3. Photograph of the estate of Heidi Bucher, © Estate of Heidi Bucher
Q3: How did you first approach the responsibility of handling your mother’s estate?
Mayo Bucher:
When Heidi passed away, it wasn't easy. She left behind not only a huge body of work, but also a family that had grown apart emotionally and geographically. The relationship between our parents had always been complicated, full of misunderstandings and rivalry, and that tension was still alive when she died.
Saying so, we brothers weren't very close at the time. And it took a few years to sort things out. But something about the estate brought us together again.
Like an urgent call to take responsibility for our ancestors, and especially for our mothers' legacy. We just couldn't leave it unfinished. As we both matured, her work seemed to us like a beautiful but overgrown garden. You feel obliged to care for it, then eventually harvest and share its fruits while making it even more relevant.
Over the past 31 years, Indigo and I have had the continuing privilege of working with some wonderful people and galleries in placing many of her works in private and public collections. Currently these are: The Approach, London / Lehmann Maupin, New York / Mendes Wood MWDM, Sao Paulo / Jahn & Jahn, Munich.
The estate slowly became something bigger than just their two sons, almost like a living business. It became even more so when we started to manage the two estates at the same time. Luckily my daughter Letizia Bucher (1995*) runs my studio since 2018 and substantially helps with its day-to-day management.
Indigo Bucher:
Heidi was always creative, and she wanted people to notice her works. Even when we were young, she’d ask Mayo and me to act as caretakers for her work as her manager. But it wasn’t possible back then. We were too close to everything, and too far at the same time, not noticing how important her work would be.
It took about 15 years after her death for us to really join forces. That’s when the estate began to feel like a shared project. We created a clear line between the artworks and the places we lived in.
Soon after Heidi was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she began to document her work even more intensively and closely, with the help of highly qualified assistants.
Shortly after our mother's death, the city of Winterthur generously offered to extend her storage space free of charge from 1993 to 2004. This was in the so-called 'salt house', the attic of a former industrial complex - in retrospect not ideal for the conservation of some of her more fragile works. However, it was in the salt house that she began the process of arranging the vast majority of her skins and other works. To do this with precision and purpose was her gift and obligation to us.
4. Exhibition view of "Heidi Bucher - Mother of Pearl" 2005, © Estate of Heidi Bucher
Q4: Have there been moments where you’ve disagreed on how to manage her legacy? How do you navigate those tensions?
Indigo Bucher:
We disagreed plenty. Museums didn’t always want to show her full vision, and scop of her works. It took ten years before the major exhibition at the Migros Museum in Zurich opened, which Mayo organized. That was a turning point. We joined forces five years after that and built inventories, restored works, built trust.
We had been quite distant, the two of us. But the estate required teamwork. And over time, we found our rhythm. We each have our strengths, Mayo’s a brilliant curator, and I see the bigger picture. Together, it works.
Mayo Bucher:
It's complementary. We have different perspectives and that's a strength. There have been times when our motivations didn't match, depending on where we were in life. I have my own career and family, now with four grown-up children. Life and time have been stretched. But that distance also gave me clarity how to focus and continue.
Q5: What has been the most difficult decision you’ve had to make regarding her estate?
Indigo Bucher:
There were many hard decisions. Letting go of certain works was one of the hardest. Some pieces are deeply personal, and at times we didn’t agree on where they should go. But time helped. We learned to see the bigger picture. When a work finds a good home, when it’s acquired with love and understanding, it’s beautiful. You feel that Heidi is being seen, and in those moments, Mayo and I carry her forward.
Mayo Bucher:
Yes, letting go is part of the mission of the estate. But for me, it is very satisfying when a work goes to the right place.
Q6: How do you see the estate evolving in the future? Any new challenges?
Mayo Bucher:
Obviously there is a long-term project on the table. Something like a 'catalogue raisonné', but interestingly any kind of 'ultimate publication' has changed over the years. We used to think of it as a book, now it's becoming something more expansive.
In 2026 we'll be celebrating the centenary of Heidi's birth. This will be a time for reflection, for opening new doors and perspectives on her work. Heidi’s legacy is at a strong point now, so we just need the right partners and some luck to carry it even further.
Q7: Is there a project related to Heidi’s work that you still dream of realizing but haven’t yet?
Indigo Bucher:
We’ve achieved a lot, the shows, the catalogues, the exhibitions, scientific publications and studies of her works. But I still dream of completing the land project in Lanzarote. Heidi wanted to create shell-like architectural forms here, just beside my house. There’s something beautiful in that, a continuation of her work in space, in kind of landscape. But it would take at least two or three years to realize, and serious funding.
Mayo Bucher:
For me, the time has come for a strategic review. I have now been involved in curating her work for a decade. So I feel the need to focus much more on my own practice. Yet looking back and into the future, it is very satisfying to see the ongoing level of interest there is in Heidi’s stunning legacy and what we achieved all together.