Jay Rechsteiner

Jay Rechsteiner was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1971 and lives and works in Margate, UK. He works primarily in painting, alongside drawing, video, performance and text.

Since 2013, Bad Painting has been central to his practice. The ongoing series begins with real events that provoke shock, anger or disbelief, followed by research, drawing and painting. Rather than illustrating a political position, the work uses painting as a way of processing events and human behaviour.

The visual language of Bad Painting has changed considerably over time. Earlier works were predominantly small acrylic paintings. Since 2024 Rechsteiner has worked mainly in oil, and recent paintings have expanded in scale, with text sometimes appearing on the sides of the canvas.