Books and magazines—like Warhol's INTERVIEW in the 70s, eagerly awaited at Zürich kiosks months after US publication —have always been central to Walter Pfeiffer's work, serving as windows to the world, references, personal scrapbooks, and work journals. Pfeiffer himself embraced a Warholian jack-of-all-trades approach: theater maker, illustrator, poster designer, graphic designer, photographer, fashion photographer, and, above all, artist.
His oeuvre carries the unmistakable touch of his window-dresser training: glamorous, sensual, spatial, and inviting, like a storefront display. This pop sensibility informs his selection of models, arrangement of objects, sequencing of images, and meticulous composition of layouts. His covers often function as bold statements, while opening spreads slow the viewer's entry into the sequence, crafting a visual story that pulls them further into the book. Once inside, every spread is highly graphic, layered with narrative, and deliberately paced.
In recent years, Pfeiffer has collaborated closely with Marietta Eugster, the Paris-based art director, whom he calls his "queen of books," including on their most recent collaboration, CHEZ WALTI 2000-2022 (2022). For SERVICE, Eugster makes a selection of pages from Pfeiffer's publications spanning from the 1970s to the present day.