The creative act that distinguishes artistic production does not always translate into a constructive operation. Art often turns out to be a working in the negative, dedicated to undoing, to give rise to a creative destruction. Think, for example, of the famous cuts by Fontana or the combustions by Burri. The fascination of deconstruction and destruction and the attack on canvas or artistic material constitute two fundamental expressions for contemporary art. So why not exploit the natural fragility of some materials?
Portraits engraved in glass
Simon Berger, contemporary Swiss artist, explores the depths of glass, hitting and breaking the plates with a hammer to create engraved portraits, where this material is both the supporting structure of the work and the artist's stylistic signature.
Il plastic language by Simon Berger is achieved through the production of cracks and breaks, the arrangement of which on the slab generates a fusion of cracks that is fully revealed in the marvelous and evocative pride of a female face.
The modus operandi
According to this technique, the closer the hammer blows are on the glass panel, the stronger the contrasts and shades are. Initially, the artist draws inspiration from a photograph and begins to trace the outlines on a glass plate (generally a safety glass). Then he marks the points he does not want to break and those he intends to intervene on, then proceeding with sure and precise hammer blows that bring out the faces, through a game of solids and voids, transparency and opacity, summarizing: of enchanting destruction.
A study in essence
Berger's artistic investigation deeply explores matter, challenging its limits; and he finds in destruction the privileged means to free the full essence of glass.
Furthermore, the Swiss artist's work plumbs the fragility of the human condition, bringing to light the permanent conflict between destructive drive and creative stimulus, between vital energy and annihilation.
On display in Murano
The hypnotic portraits of Simon Berger will be in show in Italy, al Murano Glass Museum, starting from Saturday 28 January 2023 until Sunday 7 May. In fact, it will be possible to visit the exhibition in the museum spaces of Fondamenta Marco Giustinian 8 Shattering Beauty, conceived as an immersive installation, composed of 20 unpublished works by the Swiss artist, defined by Berger himself “morphogenesis”, a term that in geology indicates the result of the processes that shape the land reliefs.
For more information on the exhibition, which can be visited every day from 10 to 17, click here.
Sources: windowssullarte.info, collater.al, simonberger.art
Image source: particular trait da simonberger.art
