Simon Berger

Born on April 9, 1976, in Switzerland.

Lives and works in his own studio in Niederönz.

Artistic vision, technical skill and continuous innovation characterise Simon Berger‘s creative practice. Pioneering an improbable method of working glass in a two-dimensional, figurative way, the Swiss artist literally breaks boundaries with a revolutionary approach to his medium of choice, thereby moving beyond the century-old convention of building and modelling vitreous matter. Contrary to this long-standing tradition, his is a form of anti-creation as the destructive gesture of mere blows of a hammer on a glass pane ultimately ‘draws‘ images of great visual intrigue that emerge from the tangle of powerfully orchestrated cracks. By virtue of his unique sculptural language Simon Berger explores the depths of the material, striking the glass to liberate photorealistic ‘paintings‘ from the presumed flatness of the surface. The vitreous canvas in this regard is both the supportive structure of his artwork, as well as the visualisation of his artistic handwriting, while its transparency allows the artist to play with notions of an infinite beyond that assumes concrete form in the opacity of the breaks.

Simon Berger began his artistic explorations by painting portraits with spray cans before turning to other media. A carpenter by training, his first sculptural creations accordingly resulted from a natural attraction to wood. Drawn to different materials with their respective affordances and fostering a fascination with discarded items, the artist spent plenty of time working with used vehicle bodies to create assemblages. 

From the controlled shattering of glass and its resulting fractures, art recalls its power of suscitating wonder and awe since through destruction, Simon Berger allows beauty to emerge.