It is my immense pleasure to invite you to dive into my world with the exhibition “Explositions!” at the Museoscope of the Fribourg Museum of Art and History, Switzerland, for an immersive and colorful journey spanning forty years of creativity!

The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. It will be an opportunity to raise a glass together, exchange a few words (or many), and witness the birth of my new paintings and the rebirth of older works under your gaze.

The exhibition runs from March 26 to June 28, 2026, and will feature various events detailed below.

I hope to see you there, whether at the opening, during one of the guided tours (April 1, April 30, Museum Night on May 9), at the presentation of the book “Inventaire d’avant-hier” on May 29, or simply on an afternoon when you feel like letting yourself be swept away.

Come as you are and bring your own perspective. It is your gaze that completes the paintings.

With joy and anticipation,
Olivier

“Straddling the line between dream and hyperrealism, humor and tragedy, horror and beauty, the work of Fribourg-based painter Olivier Zappelli takes us on a colorful journey. Technical virtuosity serves an unbridled imagination, where garden gnomes, mutant hamburgers, Indian gods, skeletons, and voluptuous women, Swiss landscapes, and the excesses of modern civilization all coexist.”

Opening Reception
Wed, March 25, 2026, 6:30 p.m.
with Olivier Zappelli, Philippe Trinchan, Head of the Culture Department of the Canton of Fribourg, Ivan Mariano, Director of the MAHF / Espace Jean Tinguely-Niki de Saint Phalle, and Caroline Schuster Cordone, Deputy Director of the MAHF / Espace Jean Tinguely-Niki de Saint Phalle

Guided tour for Friends of the MAHF-Espace
Wed, April 1, 2026, 6:00 PM
in French, with Olivier Zappelli, Ivan Mariano, and Caroline Schuster Cordone

Public guided tour
Thu, April 30, 2026, 6:30 p.m.
in French, with Olivier Zappelli, Ivan Mariano & Caroline Schuster Cordone

Night of The Museums
Sat, May 9, 2026, 7 p.m. & 9 p.m.
Public guided tours in French with Olivier Zappelli

Book presentation: Inventaire d’avant-hier
Fri, May 29, 2026, 6:30 p.m.
by Marc Boivin, illustrations by Olivier Zappelli

Closing event
Sun, June 28, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
with Olivier Zappelli, Ivan Mariano & Caroline Schuster Cordone

Musée d’art et d’histoire Fribourg — mahf.ch
Rue de Morat 12, 1700 Fribourg — Map

This is a time for research, experimentation, and creation. If you’re curious to see how the works take shape, I’d be delighted to welcome you there to share in this creative process, show you the works in progress, and discuss my work.

You can stop by on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., until the exhibition opens. Feel free to drop by and say hello!

I look forward to seeing you at the studio.

Olivier

You are all invited to my next exhibition, which will take place from November 6 to December 21, 2025, at the Plexus Art Gallery, Villa Murillo in Clarens/Montreux.

Opening reception Thursday, November 6, 2025, starting at 6:30 pm.

I will be sharing the spotlight with other excellent artists. We will all be present at the opening, and it will be—as always—a great pleasure and honor for me to see you there!

Olivier

Plexus Gallery
Rue du Lac 61
1815 Clarens / Montreux
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m. or by appointment.

www.galleryplexus.com

Dear friends,

I am delighted to invite you to my next exhibition, which will be held at the Osmoz Art Gallery from October 12 to November 17, 2024.

Opening on October 12th, from 4pm on.

Closing event on November 17th.
I will also be present on October 27.

Galerie OSMOZ
rue de Vevey 31
1630 Bulle
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2pm — 6pm, or by appointment: +41 79 383 17 78.

galerieosmoz.ch

Julien Victor Scheuchzer is delighted to welcome Olivier Zappelli back to the Osmoz art gallery:

In Olivier Zappelli’s work, dream and onirism have an important place and are expressed essentially through color. Like the masters of classical painting, his virtuosity has enabled him to impose his offbeat, poetic and sometimes disconcerting vision. After studying Fine Arts, the Fribourg artist embarked on an astonishing journey of initiation. In Haiti, he discovered the voodoo religion, naïve and fantastic art. In India, he became a Shivaist monk. For two years, he created several mythological frescoes in temples in northern India. In 1996, his art was celebrated by the Centre international de l’art fantastique at the Château de Gruyère, where he held his first solo exhibition. Since 1999, he has also taken part in group exhibitions in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and the USA, and regularly exhibits in our region.

You can now admire my latest watercolour landscapes of the Matterhorn and the Lavaux region of Lake Geneva. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I had fun making them!

Watercolour landscapes

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to my next exhibition which will take place at the Plexus Gallery from Thursday October 6 to Sunday November 27, 2022.

You are kindly invited to join the Opening Event on Thursday 6 October from 6.30 pm, in my presence of course!

Plexus Gallery
Rue du Lac 61
1815 Clarens / Montreux
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m. or by appointment.
Please confirm your presence to 079 241 89 13 or bernard.chassot_AT_crartrading.ch

www.galleryplexus.com

Dear lovers of the Art of quality,

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to the exhibition “Art sensuel” (Sensual Art) where you will have the pleasure of admiring some of my works asd well as the ones of two other artists, Catherine Zumkeller and Liliane Kiss.

The exhibition is held at L’Incubateur, Bulle, Switzerland, from February 10 to March 27, 2022.

The opening takes place on Thursday, February 10 from 18h on. Yes, you read it well: after some long months of lockdowns and quarantines, we will finally have the pleasure of meeting around a drink. Come many, enjoy art and life!

L’Incubateur
Atelier Galerie
Route de La Pâla 100
1630 Bulle
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday — Sunday, 14–18h.

New Publication

Read and share Galerie de pensées joyeuses, an uproarious book written by the Master of Humor Marc Boivin and illustrated, with taste, by me.

Galerie de pensées joyeuses, 137 pages, is published by Faim de siècle Publishing. See and enjoy some of the illustrations or order it now!
Galerie de pensées joyeuses is the perfect Christmas gift in these morose times!

Oz

Order the book →

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to my next exhibition which will take place at the Plexus Gallery from Thursday March 25 to Sunday June 13, 2021.

Let’s meet during the “Spring Opening” on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th May from 2pm to 6pm.
Please make an appointment on 079 241 89 13. Thank you and see you soon!

Plexus Gallery
Rue du Lac 61
1815 Clarens / Montreux
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m. or by appointment.
079 241 89 13 | bernard.chassot_AT_crartrading.ch

www.galleryplexus.com

In September 2021 the Osmoz gallery opened its doors and presented its first exhibition. For the 20th anniversary of its creation, the Osmoz gallery will organize in 2021 several group exhibitions with artists who have exhibited their works throughout these years. OZ is one of them.

I look forward to your presence!

From March 6 to April 11, 2021.

Closing event on April 11 from 2 pm on. *

Galerie OSMOZ
rue de Vevey 31
1630 Bulle
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2pm — 6pm.

galerieosmoz.ch

* if the situation allows it.

Remember, once upon a time an opening took place the day after the first day of lockdown: the opening of the OZ personal exhibition at the Murten Museum.

We couldn’t drop it all there! So we decided to set up a day of festivities around the exhibition. You are all invited, come to this party,

Sunday July 5, 2020 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

I’ll be very pleased to meet you there, toast and share! You will find commented tours, workshops and surprises from 11 a.m., as well as a screening followed by an aperitif at 4.30 p.m.

Facebook event

Learn more about the exhibition

Murten Museum
Ryf 4, CH — 3280 Morat — Map
www.museummurten.ch

“The pen is mightier than the sword, the brush is mightier than the virus.”

Discover Murten through the shimmering colors of twenty landscapes in watercolor as well as my three new pop paintings!

By the way here’s a great news, beneficial for your senses and spirit: the Murten exhibition has been extended until August 23, 2020.

Dear friends,

I am very pleased to share with you the reopening of my personal exhibition at the Murten Museum on Tuesday May 12.

Now a great news for a progressive deconfinement that beneficial for the senses and the spirit, the exhibition has been extended until August 23, 2020.

I’ll be there! →

The exhibition reopens on May 12 and is extended until August 23, 2020!

Dear friends and lovers of my art,

I am delighted and proud to invite you to my next personal exhibition at

Murten Museum, from March 15 To August 23, 2020.

I would love to meet you on the occasion of the

Opening, Saturday March 14 at 6 pm.

You are also invited to meet me at the museum and enjoy a journey through my work during a guided tour led by me,
— in French on Thursday, April 30 at 7 pm,
— in German on Thursday, May 14 at 7 pm.

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Saturday: 2 pm — 5 pm.
Sunday: 10 am — 5 pm.
Special openings on request

Murten Museum
Ryf 4, CH — 3280 Morat — Map
www.museummurten.ch

Color Variations

How to evoke the unreal and give body to the invisible? To meet this challenge, Olivier Zappelli explored the multiple possibilities offered by the visual arts. He invites us, through his different works, to immerse ourselves in a colorful imagination. Everything is about inspiration, from food to architecture to money. Rooted in his time, the artist has made everyday objects his own but has always returned them in a quirky way, whether critical, ironic, symbolic or poetic. The precision of the forms and the delicacy of the rendering, enhanced by the power of the color, give his paintings, drawings and watercolors a strong aesthetic intensity.

Combining technical virtuosity and fantasy, Olivier Zappelli knew how to play with the codes of visual perception, his works showing the difference between natural vision and the rendering of bright colors. So it’s a real hymn to colors that takes place at the Murten Museum…

Living and working in Friborg, Olivier Zappelli regularly presents his creations in Switzerland and abroad. In 2019, he participated in the exhibition “Mémoires vives” organized by the Friborg Museum of Art and History.

With the Libellule art group

From March 9 to June 12, 2019,

Galerie Carqueville
Art Gallery
Humboldtstrasse 26
07545 Gera
Germany
Map — Website

Take the journey and bring friends!

Libellule :libelluleart.com

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to the opening of the « Mémoires vives » exhibition, Thursday May 9, 6.30pm!

With Visarte Fribourg,

From May 10 To August 18, 2019,

Espace Jean Tinguely — Niki de Saint Phalle
rue de Morat 2
1700 Fribourg
Switzerland
Map — Website

The exhibition is a collaboration with Visarte Fribourg. It questions the links between contemporary art and heritage around selected works belonging to the collection of Fribourg’s Museum of Art and History. Can heritage still feed contemporary creation and if so, how? The MAHF and the Espace Jean Tinguely — Niki de Saint Phalle propose to the artists of Visarte to embark on a free dialogue, inspired and offbeat, to question these links and landmarks.

Visarte Fribourg is the cantonal section of Visarte, the Swiss society of visual artists and architects – visarte-fribourg.ch

Good Soup — oil on board — 123cm — 2017

New publication

Rejoice! From the already fruitful collaboration between Marc Boivin and myself, a new book was born.

Evangile des idées reçues (The Gospel of Preconceived Ideas), 155 pages, is published by Faim de siècle Publishing.

Please take the time to explore the book illustrations here.

Oz

Order Now →

Evangile des idées reçues (The Gospel of Preconceived Ideas) — cover

Dear friends,

I am delighted to invite you to my next exhibition, which will be held at the Osmoz Art Gallery from October 13 to November 18, 2018.

Opening on October 13th, 4pm — 7pm.

Closing event on November 18th, 2pm — 6pm.

Galerie OSMOZ
rue de Vevey 31
1630 Bulle
Switzerland
Map

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, 2pm — 6pm.

galerieosmoz.ch

Download PDF

Browse my works and be sure to subscribe to “The Newsletter of Oz” to follow my work and stay informed of my upcoming exhibitions!

Please just get in touch if ever you want to use one of my images within one of your projects.

Oz

One Cent — oil on board — 30cm — 2018