Project 05
Katsumi Nakai
Dimensional Harmonies
28/1/2025-28/3/2025
Upon arriving in Milan, Nakai quickly became immersed in the city's avant-garde artistic circles, forming close friendships with pioneering artists including Lucio Fontana, Enrico Castellani, and Agostino Bonalumi. His connection with Fontana proved particularly influential, as both artists shared a revolutionary approach to breaking through the picture plane, albeit through different means – Fontana through his iconic cuts and punctures, and Nakai through his architectural wooden constructions. His work found significant support through Galleria del Naviglio and Galleria L'Argentario, two venues that played crucial roles in establishing his presence within the European artistic landscape.
Nakai's artistic practice is characterized by his masterful exploration of space and form through layered wooden elements that extend beyond the traditional picture plane. His works, while appearing geometric and architectural, maintain a profound connection to Japanese aesthetics, particularly in their attention to balance, negative space, and the natural qualities of materials.
Drawing from both the rigorous spatial investigations of European constructivism and the meditative aspects of Japanese design, Nakai developed a unique artistic language that transcends cultural boundaries. His compositions incorporate hinged and moveable elements that transform flat surfaces into dynamic, sculptural forms, inviting viewers to consider multiple perspectives and possibilities within a single work.
This focused exhibition presents four exemplary works from the 1990s, a period that represents the full maturation of Nakai's artistic vision. During this decade, his practice reached new heights of refinement, combining the technical precision he had developed over decades with an increasingly sophisticated approach to color and spatial relationships. These works showcase his characteristic use of painted wood constructions, featuring the subtle color modulations and precise geometric forms that defined his later period.
The selected pieces demonstrate Nakai's masterful ability to create works that seem to defy categorization – neither purely painting nor sculpture, but existing in a realm of their own. Each piece invites careful contemplation, revealing new relationships and spatial possibilities with each viewing. Through these works, visitors can experience firsthand the artist's unique contribution to the development of three-dimensional painting and his enduring influence on contemporary artistic practice.
Project 04
Andy Warhol
Marilyn
2022-2024
While rooted in mechanical reproduction, each screenprint reveals subtle variations and imperfections inherent to the printing process. These "flaws" serve as reminders of the human hand in their creation, despite Warhol's famous assertion that he wanted to be a machine. The vibrant, sometimes discordant color combinations create a fascinating tension between the surface glamour of celebrity and the underlying tragedy of Monroe's life and death.
Created during a period of intense cultural change in America, these prints represent a crucial moment in Warhol's career when he was fully embracing his role as both artist and cultural commentator.
Project 03
A.R.Penck
Selection
20/12/2021-25/2/2022
Working in East Germany until 1980, Penck developed his signature style under the restrictive conditions of the DDR regime. His distinctive pictographic system featured stick figures, mathematical symbols, and archetypal forms – a visual vocabulary that deliberately echoed prehistoric cave paintings while addressing modern political and social concerns. This coded language allowed him to comment on the Cold War division of Germany while evading state censorship.
Despite official disapproval of his work in East Germany, Penck gained recognition in the West through his dealer Michael Werner. His paintings, often executed in bold colors and primitive forms, earned him association with the Neo-Expressionist movement, alongside contemporaries like Georg Baselitz and Jörg Immendorf. However, Penck's work remained uniquely focused on developing what he called "Standart" – his universal visual language aimed at transcending cultural and political boundaries.
After moving to West Germany in 1980, Penck's artistic practice expanded to include sculpture, printmaking, and jazz music. His work became increasingly recognized internationally, with major exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, London, and documenta. Penck's influence continues to resonate in contemporary art through his exploration of semiotics, his bold graphic style, and his commitment to art as a form of social communication.
Project 02
Group
Drawing Abstraction
10/7/2021-4/9/2021
Cy Twombly's blackboard drawing pulses with raw energy. His sweeping marks hover between writing and pure movement, creating a visual poetry that speaks to both primal gesture and cultural memory. The work embodies a moment where thought and action become one, leaving traces of a dynamic performance.
Agnes Martin's works draw us into a contemplative space. Her subtle grids emerge from the paper like whispered meditations, creating fields that appear to shift and breathe. These delicate compositions reveal the profound poetry possible within reduction and restraint.
Richard Serra's drawing asserts itself through its material presence. Dark and commanding, it transforms the paper into a field of dense energy. Here, the physical properties of the medium become both subject and substance, challenging our perception of drawing's possibilities.
Camille Graeser's geometric work brings another sensibility to the conversation. His composition orchestrates a precise yet lyrical dialogue between form and space. The Swiss artist's systematic approach yields results that transcend their mathematical origins.
Mark Tobey weaves intricate visual tapestries that seem to capture light itself. His marks accumulate into shimmering fields that resist fixed readings, instead offering a journey through layers of visual complexity. The work reflects his deep engagement with both Eastern and Western artistic traditions.
Günther Förg's contribution speaks to the ongoing vitality of abstraction. His drawings move between structure and intuition, creating a dynamic tension that feels both timeless and immediate. The work demonstrates how fundamental artistic gestures can be continuously renewed and reimagined.
Together, these works trace a compelling trajectory through the landscape of abstraction. They demonstrate how the fundamental act of marking paper continues to yield profound artistic possibilities. Each artist brings their unique sensibility to this most immediate of artistic practices, revealing the enduring power of drawing to capture both thought and sensation.
Project 01
Steven Parrino
Little Anal Annie
11/8/19-15/9/2019
Organised by Greg Bergner and Marc Jancou at OFFSITE: CHALET in Rossinière, Switzerland, Marc Jancou Contemporary is pleased to announce Little Anal Annie, an exhibition of works by this seminal American artist. Given Parrino's close ties to Switzerland throughout his career, Bergner and Jancou felt it imperative to stage an exhibition in the country where the artist's work was most warmly received during his lifetime. On view from August 11th through September 15th, Little Anal Annie is a truly Swiss-made show in honor of Parrino's cross-Atlantic collaborations with so many Swiss artists, musicians, writers, and curators.
Bringing together thirty-eight of Parrino's drawings, collages, and paintings, Little Anal Annie explores the artist's interest in art history and theory, alongside his fascination with Pop iconography, subversive countercultures, the occult, and punk-rock music.
Steven Parrino (1958-2005) was born in New York City. He received a BFA from Parson's School of Design, New York, in 1982. His work has been shown at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Musée d'Art Modern et Contemporain, Genève; FriArt, Fribourg; Centre d'Art, Neuchâtel; Le Consortium, Dijon; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; The Swiss Institute, New York; FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon; The Power Station, Dallas; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.
Project Space:
4 Bis route des jeunes
1227, Carouge
Switzerland
Office:
60 route du prieur
1257, Croix-de-rozon
Switzerland
Administrative:
88 rue ancienne
1227, Carouge
Switzerland
Tel: +41 79 393 93 94
Email: greg@gregbergner.com
Four Walls : Starting in fall 2026. Situated within a warehouse in Geneva, the project space comprises four angled walls, each with a side window that illuminates its center. The exhibition programme presents four related works by a single artist, installed to engage with the architectural rhythm of the space.
The succession of exhibitions unfolds through an invitation process, in which each participating artist designates their successor. With this we hope to create a sustained and organically evolving curatorial trajectory.