Louisa Gagliardi
Louisa Gagliardi (b. 1989) draws freely from the codes of painting as well as contemporary graphic design and advertising in order to rethink questions of figure and ground, flatness and depth. Created initially as fluid digital images, her works are printed on vinyl and then intervened upon with a gel medium that lends a texture that could be read as ghostly impressions of painterly marks. However, rather than appealing to the hand, this texture only underscores the surface as a complex field of visual play –a theme brought forth in this suite of works through the reoccurring motif of veils and unveiling. Dancing between dimensionality and translucence, her landscapes and characters bridge the divide between the enigmatic and the banal.
—Franklin Melendez
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1989 in Switzerland
Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland
Education
2012
Bachelor, Graphic Design, Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL)
2011
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Erasmus
Solo and two-person Exhibitions
2022
Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, Poland
Around the Clock, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Fool’s Gold, COUPLE (Louisa Gagliardi & Adam Cruces), Lemme, Sion, Switzerland
Louisa Gagliardi and Yves Scherer, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York, NY, USA
2020
Wishful Thinking, Antenna Space, Shanghai, China
Raincheck, Galeria Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, Poland
2019
Side Effects of Satisfaction, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Force of Circumstance, McNamara Art Projects, Hong Kong
2018
Adam Cruces & Louisa Gagliardi, Galerie Joseph Tang, Paris, France
Under the Weather, MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales, UK
Holdings, Openforum, Berlin, Germany
On a day like this, Plymouth Rock, Zurich, Switzerland
2017
Whispers in the Shade, Pilar Corrias, London, UK
Cold Sweat, with Manon Wertenbroek, La Plage, Paris, France
Notes for later, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2016
Walking Errands, with Adam Cruces, The Cabin, Los Angeles, CA USA
La Belle Heure, Tomorrow Gallery, New York, USA
2014
The New Guy, Galerie Ephemere, Hublot, Verbier, Switzerland
2013
Professor Space Phase, White Squat, Zurich, Switzerland
Group Exhibitions
2022
EARTHING, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Swiss Emerging Artist Prize 2022, The Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Sausage Party, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Jean-Maria Appriou, Amy Feldman, Louisa Gagliardi, Kris Lemsalu, Conny Maier, Sofia Mitsola, Tobias Pils, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
2021
Post-digital Intimacy, National Gallery Prague, Czech Republic
HESTIA, 55bis, Paris, France
Permission, Swiss Art Awards 2021, Basel, Switzerland
Lemaniana. Reflets d’autres scènes, Enquête sur la production artistique actuelle en région lémanique, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Lugari, Rudimento, Quito, Ecuador
2020
Collection as Poem in the Age of Ephemerality, X Museum, Beijing, China
2019
La métamorphose de l’art imprimé, Edition VFO, Zurich, Switzerland
DOG DAYS, CLEARING, Brooklyn, NY USA
2018
On the Road, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
Tronc Mental, Centre d’art de Neuchâtel CAN, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
No Fear of Fainting in a Gym, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2017
Being There, Louisiana, Humlebæk, Denmark
Werkschau 2017, Museum Haus Kontruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Cul-de-sac, Athenna Space, Shanghai, China
Sans-Titre 3, Paris, France
Tastes Like Headaches, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
2016
Painters? Painting?, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Hinter jedem Berg steht noch ein Berg, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Mostly viewed by cows, Art Safiental, Tenna, Switzerland
La Vitesse des Images, Instituto Svizzero, Roma, Italy
Hypnic Jerk, Smart Objects, Los Angeles, CA US
Exercices in Style, Suprainfinit, Bucharest, Romania
For Granted, Hole of the Fox, Antwerp, Belgium
Design & Crime, Galerie Hussenot, Paris, France
Surreal, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Mirrors, DUVE, Berlin, Germany
Over and Under, monCHERI, Brussels, Belgium
2015
A perfect Lie, Galerie Jeanroch Dard, Brussels, BE
Filter Bubble, Luma Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland
Madrugada, Tomorrow Gallery, New York, NY USA
Cookie Gate, Ellis King, Dublin, Ireland
A Form is a Social Gatherer, Plymouth Rock, Zurich, Switzerland
2014
World Music, Carlos/Ishikawa, London, UK
Swiss Design Award, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
The Reframing of Loss, Jon Rafman, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY USA
2013
Beauty Shop, Up–State, Zurich, Switzerland
Doom, Taylor Macklin, Zurich, Switzerland
Bücher Temporär, Zurich, Switzerland
Awards and honors
2022
Swiss Emerging Artist Prize 2022 (shortlisted)
2021
Swiss Art Awards 2021 (shortlisted)
2020
Swiss Art Awards 2020 (shortlisted)
Werk- und Atelierstipendien Stadt Zürich (shortlisted)
2019
Cultural Prize of Sion
2017
Forbes 30 Under 30 List, category: Arts
2016
6 months residency at Fondation Suisse in Paris, Kanton Wallis
2015
Pullman X Wallpaper* Prize, Pullman Hotels
2014
Swiss Design Award
2012
Wallpaper*: See the future now! Student directory
Collections
X Museum, Beijing, China
Frac Normandie, France