Swiss Skeli & the Gang
Swiss Skeli is an art project where art, history, and the bright side of death meet among the landscapes of Switzerland. Walk with him along the winding paths between life and death and follow his Instagram account.
Each image in this project is born from vintage postcards – silent witnesses of another time. They are hand painted, giving Swiss Skeli a place upon their faded scenes, accompanied by tales unearthed from Swiss history, weaving art into story. In this way, small memento mori emerge. Works that linger between remembrance and narration.
Swiss Skeli – A Gentleman from Beyond.
“I was born on November 2, 1874 on Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead in the great cemetery of Cucuchucho, in the township of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, Mexico.
Mine was a world steeped in ancestor veneration, candlelight, and the scent of cempasuchil (marigold) petals.
Yet I was also marked by the age into which my bones first rattled: the Victorian era. I became a child of two cultures – the colorful death rites of Mexico and the dark elegance of England poured their spell into my skeletal charm.
At the very same time, the mind of a certain Sherlock Holmes was taking shape and sometimes, in especially fog-laden hours, I feel like a detective of the beyond myself: a bone-sleuth of the afterlife, tracing glimmers of light through the shadow of death.”
Sometime, probably in the course of the 20th century, Swiss Skeli set out on one of his many adventurous journeys. This time the wind carried him across the wide waters to the city of Bern, into the very heart of Switzerland.
“I like it here. The Alps, the fog, the cemeteries, the clocks, the discreet humor, all of this reminds me a little of Victorian London, only with better chocolate!“
From then on, his nickname became Swiss Skeli.
“After 150 years in this world and in that other I have decided it is time to have my stories written down. For that”, he thought, “I will be needing a Fleshy. A being with skin, a heart, and a certain artistic inclination.”
So one night he knocked on the door of a studio, where he found Renée Magaña. Or perhaps she found him. She was not surprised to see him. Skeletons had never frightened her. Swiss Skeli became Magaña’s alter ego, yet at the same time he carried traits of other beloved departed. He was memory, mischief, companion – a spectral composition woven of nearness and imagination.
La Catrina – The Mistress of the House
Swiss Skeli’s companion in life is none other than La Catrina. A diva, yes, but one with depth. She delights in extravagant hats and the playful dance of fashion and identity. Her knowledge of healing plants and ancient magic is as vast as her library of esoteric volumes. Tarot cards are her daily bread, and the lunar calendar is never far from reach. In matters of astrology she remains ever curious, especially when it might sway the household or even the weather.
La Catrina is the grand matriarch of the so-called ‘Skeleton Gang’. She resides with Swiss Skeli and Mushy Skeli in the old parsonage of Kallnach, where there is room enough for tea gatherings, meandering philosophical walks, and nightly debates on the hidden architectures of the cosmos.
Mushy Skeli & The Fungi-Kingdom
Among the first bones Magaña ever painted were those belonging to Mushy Skeli. He is a tribute to her husband, Martin ‘The Mushroom Man’ Möll (1972–2019). Möll was an artist and a passionate mushroom hunter. His most consistent project was the band The Fungi Kingdom, active between 2014 and 2019. Their concerts were unlike any other: songs devoted entirely to mushrooms, interwoven with scientific lectures, foraging tips, recipes, and haikus dedicated to fungi.
After Möll’s death in 2019, Magaña was approached by Nicolas Bangerter, one of the band members. Together they created a new format: The Adventures of Mushy Skeli. In short animations, the endearingly clumsy Mushy Skeli is sent on journeys through the fungal realm. The stories are inspired by lyrics, poems, and real memories – and continue to grow, like a good mycelium.
Mushy Skelis Origins
Mushy Skeli is one of the last primordial Skelis, an ancient one.
His bones were born after the Big Bang, somewhere within the fungal weave of the cosmic mushroom web. As a tiny spore, he drifted through space and time until one day, he glimpsed a small green and blue planet circling a gentle sun.
“What a pleasant place,” he thought, and so he landed.
His hyphae stretched out in silence, delicate and unseen, until a vast mycelium unfurled beneath the earth. Soon, mushrooms began to push their way up and with them came Skelis of every kind.
There were the Good: like the noble milk-cap Skelis, the cheerful chanterelle Skelis, and the trumpet Skelis with songs in their bones.
But there were others too, the Bad: the notorious Fly Agaric Skelis, red-capped tricksters with poison in their charm, and the dreaded Destroying Angel Skelis, pale and merciless.
And then, of course, came the Ugly: the Stinkhorn Skelis, rising in scandalous shapes and scandalous smells.
A raucous, unruly tribe if ever there was one! And so Mushy Skeli was crowned their sovereign: the king of the Fungi Kingdom. And so Mushy Skeli was crowned their sovereign: the king of the Fungi Kingdom.
When not out on a grand mycorrhizal mission, Mushy Skeli spends his days scribbling haikus and collecting spores. And sometimes he thinks how sweet it is to share a roof with Swiss Skeli and La Catrina in the old parsonage, where death and life pass the teacup to one another, every single day.
