Simon Berger, born in 1976, is a Swiss contemporary visual artist. He is best known for pioneering the art made by breaking glass with a hammer. His work has been widely exhibited around the world.[6]
Simon Berger in the Studio at Aurum Gallery, Bangkok, Photocredit: Aurum Gallery
Simon Berger's glass portraits visualize a tension between strength and fragility through its motif, as well as his handling of the glass. The anonymous female portraits commonly share a powerful expression, their fierce gazes either piercing through the viewer, or fixating on an object beyond the frame. When approaching the artworks closely, these captivating images disintegrate into an amalgamation of cracks and jagged-edged shards of glass. Contrary to expectations of how glass should be handled cautiously to ensure its integrity, Berger makes use of the material's brittleness to develop his artistic language.[8]
Reminiscent of sculptural techniques, a hammer is used to imprint the highlighted facial features into the sheet of glass. An initially transparent support of the image, the pane of glass, becomes partially opaque. The controlled shattering of the glass creates fractures which are subject to the material's physical laws. However, instead of collapsing into itself, the safety glass keeps the shards in place. These artworks fascinate by juxtaposing strength with fragility and expectations towards glass with Berger's approach to the material. The incidence of light is reflected by the fragments and cracks within the glass, making the artworks surface gleam and glisten and depending on the illumination, it seems as if the portrait itself were glowing. Through destruction, Simon Berger allows beauty to emerge.[8]
According to the magazine French magazine RTS, Berger's work was influenced by the pop art movement and Neorealism.[5]
Simon Berger made his first works on glass in 2017, in his studio in Niederönz, Switzerland.[7] Soon, the originality of his technique put him in the media spotlight, and he was invited by many institutions or events such as the largest street art festival in Europe, the Street Art Fest Grenoble-Alpes, where he created a live diptych. The work can be seen in Grenoble at 113 cours Berriat in a window provided by the ARaymond company. In March 2021, Simon Berger created a portrait of Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States, in partnership with the American National Museum of Women's History.[1] In August 2021, he was associated with the "We are Unbreakable" project,[9] sponsored by MTV Lebanon in tribute to the victims of the Beirut harbour explosion in 2020.
Simon Berger producing a new artwork in a live performance at Aurum Gallery, Bangkok, Photocredit: Aurum Gallery
Exhibitions (Selection)
Shattering Beauty, Solo Exhibition at Museo del Vetro Murano, curated by Sandrine Welte and Chiara Squarcina, in Collaboration with Berengo Studio, Photocredit: Jörg Häfeli Photography
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2023 - Solo Exhibition, Facing Grace, Museo Civico di Treviso, Treviso, Italy
2023 - Solo Exhibition, Echoes, Fabien Castanier Gallery, Miami, United States
2023 - Solo Exhibition, Beauty in Destruction, West Chelsea Contemporary, Austin, United States
2023 - Solo Exhibition, Morphogenesis, Bundesverwaltungsgericht, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2023 - Solo Exhibition and private event, Untitled, Agence DS and Icone Gallery, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, France
2023 - Solo Exhibition, The Doors of Perception, Museo Civico di Sansepolcro, Italy
2023 - Solo Exhibition, Shattering Beauty (curated by Sandrine Welte and Chiara Squarcina, in Collaboration with Berengo Studio), Museo del Vetro, Murano, Italy
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Shattered, Aurum Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Unbreakable Identities, Galotti & Radice, Italy
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Agence DS, Paris, France
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Artstübli Basel, Switzerland
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Le verre dans tous ses éclats, Vitromusée Romont, Switzerland
2022 - Solo Exhibition, Cracked Beauties, Mazel Galerie, Brussel, Belgium
2021 - Solo Exhibition, Simon Berger, Artstübli Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
Selected Art Fairs:
2023 - Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux, Switzerland, Art Miami 2023
2023 Artstübli Art & Culture, Basel, Switzerland, Volta Art Fair 2022 (Duo Show with Eddie Hara)
2022 - Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux, Switzerland, Art Miami 2022
2021 - Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, Montreux, Switzerland, Art Miami 2021
Shattering Beauty, Solo Exhibition at Museo del Vetro, curated by Sandrine Welte and Chiara Squarcina, in Collaboration with Berengo Studio, Photocredit: Jörg Häfeli Photography
L'espoire, Permanent Installation at a School in Grenoble, in Collaboration with Jerome Catz, Street Art Fest Grenoble, Photocredit: Andrea Berlese PhotographyArtwork "Morphogenesis" at Sculpture Garden Biennale in Geneva, organized by Art Genève and MAMCO, in Collaboration with BVLGARI, Photocredit: OK, Network of Arts
