We are delighted to present David Renggli’s new solo exhibition, “The Lightness of a Shadow,” at Wentrup Venezia. The Swiss artist is renowned for his playful and thought-provoking paintings, sculptures, and installations. Renggli's art often incorporates everyday objects and whimsical elements, transforming them into pieces that challenge conventional perceptions and evoke a sense of wonder. His use of vibrant colors, unexpected materials, and intricate craftsmanship reflects a deep engagement with both the absurd and the beautiful. In Venice, the artist presents new works from his ongoing Desire Paintings series. With this series, Renggli developed his signature technique in 2015. First, he paints a background wood panel with abstract forms in
various colors, juxtaposed by a jute net in the front, on which he paints different colorful shapes. The overlapping of both surfaces creates a three dimensional depth with interesting optical sensations. On an ironic note, the paintings combine the aesthetics of decorative interior design, referencing and challenging the tradition of modernist abstract art.
With his Desire Paintings, the artist succeeds in reinterpreting the supreme discipline of painting. Traditionally, painting is done on a single plane, using a variety of techniques to create depth and perspective on the canvas. Renggli's work breaks with this process and at the same time offers new ways of reading painting. His works can be experienced and recognized as a whole from a distance; as one approaches, the motif dissolves, revealing individual areas of color and the net-like structure of the canvas.
The work is no longer tangible and eludes our intellect and interpretation. Renggli generally avoids a clear readability of his works. He is much more interested in the idea and the feeling that his pictures transmit. This is also reflected in the titles of his works or exhibitions, which are often very poetic or consist of self-constructed words. This is also the case with the current exhibition title – "The Lightness of a Shadow". Just when we think we have a handle on the title, it slips from our grasp.
With the two works Desire Painting (Spellinno) and Desire Painting (Portabella), Renggli exceptionally provides a more concrete motif and at the same time draws on his own work. While in one piece his Spell my name sculptures appear against the horizon, in the other a collage-like portrait emerges that refers to his paper collages. The exhibition is accompanied by Renggli's Insta Cats: white cast sculptures in the shape of cats. They linger here and there in the exhibition space, sometimes sitting in front of the paintings and gazing at them. Their fur is covered with the digital watermark “a”. Through the “alamy-stockphoto-marks”, Renggli raises the question of who owns whom, and asks whether works of art can undermine the appropriation of external Internet mechanisms by alamyzation—i.e., by copying the copy protection. The collective virtual memory, fed by countless cat and dog videos on the Internet, is triggered—intentionally or unintentionally—for the beholder when her or she sees Renggli’s cat sculptures.
