David Renggli

David Renggli (b. Zurich, 1974; lives and works in Zurich) is always good for a surprise, piquing the art world’s curiosity with a unique blend of spectacle, humor, and poetry. Unexpected conjunctions of diverse everyday materials and motifs are the characteristic feature of the artist’s heterogeneous repertoire, which encompasses sculptural objects, sound and light installations, photographs, and reverse glass paintings. His creations often feel familiar, but closer inspection reveals them to be surreal and absurd grotesques. That moment of bafflement has often been a guiding aesthetic principle in David Renggli’s work. Another central theme is the system of language, and especially its susceptibility to misunderstandings and equivocations, which lend a thrilling edge to human interaction. Time and again, confusion, surprise, incomprehension are the stock of Renggli’s art. The book is based on the solo exhibition “Scaramouche” at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen in 2014 and surveys Renggli’s oeuvre from his earliest to his most recent works. With essays by Giovanni Carmine, Milovan Farronato, and Boris Pofalla and a conversation between Hilde Teerlinck and David Renggli.