The world’s funniest niche belongs to contemporary glass artist Simon Berger, who creates art pieces by striking and cracking glass with a hammer.
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With a weapon as his paintbrush and glass windows as his canvas, he creates shapes and silhouettes into realistic representations of faces and figures. “Human faces have always fascinated me”, explained Simon Berger. “On safety glass, these motifs come into their own and magically attract the viewer. It is a process of discovery from abstract fogging to figurative perception.”
He could at least make it easier for himself by going into the abstract segment of the art world since I can imagine it’s hard to control exactly how the glass will break. My business proposal is to label the chaos something poetic and act as if the glass chaos is on purpose. But Berger didn’t listen to advice like mine. Good for him because now he’s worldwide. Somehow, he manages to create beautifully realistic portraits, controlling the shatter of the glass by the pressure and size of the hammer.
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The first Italian company to promote their love for the study and use of glass in furniture, Gallotti&Radice invited Berger to take over their showroom in the heart of the Durini district during Milan Design Week 2023. Following the success of their latest edition, which featured the ‘Unbreakable Identities’ table, this space was once again transformed into an art gallery to present a brand new collection of mirrors, ‘Reflected Identities.’
“In Berger’s hands, the hammer is not a tool of destruction but an amplifier of identity perspectives,” explained Gallotti&Radice. With their exhibit, they invited guests to experience how “the mirror is transformed into a ‘living canvas,’ which returns the image of a double soul: the reflection of a real identity in connection with the expressive power of feminine elegance, the maximum manifestation of the Simon Berger’s essence.”
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But how did Berger come up with the idea? Was it maybe by doing something illegal and understanding how fun it was? Working with broken glass, which cuts through anything it touches and breaks by any wrongdoing, how is he not constantly bleeding or accidentally destroying his work? How can I get this man’s autograph?
These and many more questions ran through my mind. Well, you can find some answers in his biography. Beginning his career painting portraits with spray cans before turning to other mediums, Berger is a carpenter by training, and his natural attraction to wood inspired his first artistic creations. “A lover of mechanics, he also spent plenty of time working with used car bodies to create assemblages,” stated his website. “It was while pondering what to do with a car windshield that his idea for working with glass was born.”
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All of his artworks are nothing like art you’ve seen before. Berger challenges our intuitions of avoiding or looking upon shattered glass as something destroyed or broken. Instead, he uses it as his superpower to give life to his compelling chaotically-structured pieces.
I don’t think Simon Berger views the world like we do. Most people would not see possibilities where he does. Or, he put it better himself with his artwork – Hope or Nope – it depends on the viewing angle.
Nathalie Jönson
Visual Design student, Milan