Banal they may well seem, these everyday motifs transposed into paintings—always on a scale of 1:1—by the Swiss artist Christoph Hänsli, and yet the context to which he draws our attention with this painterly conversion is consistently profound. After exploring the undertakings of human beings in their attempt to give life a meaning, Hänsli, in recent years, has turned his attention to our constant efforts to defy our vulnerability and helplessness.

The artist initiated these enquiries with two large-scale projects. In 2015 he began work on Der Generator (The Generator), drawing us into the heart of the Saint-Gotthard Massif—where the Swiss artillery built a sprawling fortress during World War II. Hänsli produced a life-size depiction of the control panel that operated the fortress’ energy supply. Almost eight meters long, Der Generator features an entire arsenal of switches, regulators and lamps. They symbolize both the manageable control that can be gained through technology and the potential for a total loss of command—thus making this painting a double-portrait of confidence and fear.

The inspiration for Hänsli’s next big project, Deponie (Disposal site, 2015–16) was equally subterraneous. His quest for systems of order led the artist to the landfill at Herfa-Neurode in the German state of Hesse, the world’s largest underground repository of hazardous waste. In addition to over two million metric tons of discharge containing mercury or arsenic, a “sample room” displays hundreds of tiny amounts of poisonous chemicals from all over the world—in innocent looking and neatly labeled glass jars that closely resemble the ones we use for our kitchen spices. Hänsli has transposed 33 of these samples into small paintings, tidily arranged by categories of pollutant. They present themselves as a little periodic table in pastel colors of the side products of civilization we prefer to forget.