Born in 1989, Louisa Gagliardi is a much-admired contemporary Swiss artist best known for her figurative works that hover between dimensionality and translucency. With a background in graphic design, Gagliardi often utilises digitally rendered images as a starting point within her practice. She then proceeds to meticulously print them onto vinyl, intervened upon with a layer of gel medium that imparts an eerie quality of painterly marks. The artist finds that through every application of gel, she is able to add brushstrokes without adding any form of colour. As a result, this imparts a physicality to her works whilst retaining the digital effect of its original image.
Gagliardi’s works have recently been exhibited at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich (2023); Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw (2022); rodolphe janssen, Brussels (2022); Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva (2021); Antenna Space, Shanghai (2020); McNamara Art Projects, Hong Kong (2019); Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2018); Centre d’art de Neuchâtel CAN, Neuchâtel (2018); Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen (2018); MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales, UK (2018); Openforum, Berlin (2018); Plymouth Rock, Zurich (2018); the Louisiana, Humlebæk (2017); Pilar Corrias, London (2017); rodolphe janssen, Brussels (2017); The Cabin, LA (2016); Tomorrow Gallery, New York (2016); Instituto Svizzero, Rome, Italy (2016) and König Galerie, Berlin (2016). She was shortlisted for the Swiss Art Awards in 2018 and 2021. Gagliardi also presented a monumental project for Unlimited at Art Basel in 2022.