A swirling deluge of greens, purples, and muddy yellow ochres, layered with found images from the internet that unfold within confined enclosures, define the distinctive paintings of Swiss artist Louisa Gagliardi. Some paintings resemble waiting rooms with figures static and expectant, while other paintings open up, their doors left ajar, inviting the viewer to step inside. In some, figures stare directly at their audience, their gazes unflinching; in others, space itself becomes the subject, defined as much by absence as by presence.
‘Many Moons’ at MASI Lugano marks a pivotal moment in Louisa Gagliardi’s career. It is her first major institutional exhibition in Switzerland and her most ambitious to date with two new monumental paintings and a number of sculptures exhibited in a site-specific presentation in the basement gallery of the museum. Blurring the boundaries between physical and virtual, intimate and detached, her large-scale, digitally rendered paintings challenge formal, traditional painting while still embracing painterly devices: temporal depth, permeable and semi-permeable surfaces, and an uncanny manipulation of space. The result is a dreamlike, liminal world where the familiar becomes estranged, and the artificial takes on a disconcerting sense of reality.
Repetition, cycles, and patterns recur throughout Gagliardi’s work. The exhibition guides viewers through a series of landscapes, domestic interiors, and urban environments; compositions shaped by Gagliardi’s process of sourcing images online. Her approach mirrors the relentless flood of visual stimuli that permeates daily life, mirroring our habitual scrolling through digital spaces. One work is made up of two oversized cardboard watches linked together into a freestanding sculpture on a plush carpet, reflective of the circular compositions found within her paintings: ‘Jackpot’ (2024) depicts a large circular derelict tunnel, ‘Climbing’ (2024) presents a figure in a spiral subway stairwell, and the architectural motif of a roundabout ceiling in ‘Roundabout’ (2023), where an inverted chandelier juts upwards as white-clothed figures move rhythmically around it. These cyclical forms introduce a dimension of time that extends beyond pictorial representation. Traditionally, painters evoke temporality through spatial depth and perspective; Gagliardi, however, inscribes time directly into her materials and objects. She describes the watches as deeply personal objects, carrying histories that transcend the present moment. “It’s something that you wear on your wrist and it literally passes time with you,” she explains. “Even a second-hand watch has this whole past, this engraving of time.” For ‘Many Moons’, Gagliardi used watches from her parents and partner with engraved timestamps of memorable moments, transforming the objects into vessels of memory with an imprint of a deeply personal history.
Liminality is another central theme in Gagliardi’s work, both conceptually and personally. At the age of 35, she finds herself in a transitional phase, candidly explaining to me that she is neither young nor old and feels caught between states of becoming. “I’m at the age now where I’m definitely not a child anymore... but I’m starting to feel like I’m not a young adult either,” she reflects. This in-betweenness permeates ‘Many Moons’, where figures exist in undefined, transient spaces such as waiting rooms, staircases, corridors, places of passage rather than arrival. “I think those liminal spaces are everywhere and nowhere,” she explains, likening them to the settings of dreams. They are places that are familiar yet, upon waking, strangely ungraspable. “They’re still a place, but they’re not a specific place.” This ambiguity extends to her figures, which she describes as “everyone and no one... vessels for the viewer to project their own narrative onto.”
One particularly evocative piece titled ‘Green Room’ (2023), depicts multiple figures in a green-tinge lounge-like setting, yet none make eye contact or interact. The only visible attempt at connection occurs between two dogs, restrained by their owners. For Gagliardi, this encapsulates the paradox of contemporary digital culture: hyper-connectivity that breeds isolation. “To be human nowadays, in this technological world, we feel connected to everyone, but really, we’ve never been so alone.”
Throughout the exhibition, moments of tension punctuate the cyclical flow. Two waiting rooms are positioned on either side of the large basement gallery, subtly shifting the visitor’s experience of time. One room is inviting with two chairs facing each other, their surfaces printed with scattered remnants of daily life: lost coins, a draped shirt, a watch strap casually unfastened. The arrangement is intimate yet ambiguous. Are the chairs an invitation or an imposition? “They’re inviting, but also not,” Gagliardi agrees. The direct confrontation between two chairs mirrors the awkward intimacy of real-world encounters such as staring at a stranger in a waiting room, a moment that feels at once charged and detached.
The imposing scale of the exhibition space at MASI Lugano immediately resonated with Gagliardi, reflecting both the grandiosity and vulnerability present in her work. “I fell in love with the space because it’s something I would use for my paintings. It’s gigantic, almost intimidating,” she explains. Balancing this vastness with a sense of intimacy, she designed an immersive exhibition that unfolds slowly over time; viewers have to physically walk into different enclaves and areas, resulting in being pulled deeper into her world. “At first, you think you’re stepping into the paintings, but then suddenly, you realise that they are surrounding you.”
A defining aspect of Gagliardi’s practice is her studio process. Beginning with digital sketches made using a iPad, she prints her compositions onto PVC before adding tactile interventions with unconventional materials such as nail varnish, gel mediums, and gloss. This interplay between digital and physical is central to her work. “I wanted to intervene on the painting, but I really wanted to do it with non-paint,” she explains. The use of nail polish is a playful nod to traditional painting: “It’s the act of painting without fully transforming the image... almost like a little wink.” By incorporating reflective and textured surfaces, Gagliardi introduces an element of unpredictability into otherwise flat compositions. “If you move just the right way, the light catches it, and suddenly, part of the image disappears.” This flickering presence and absence heightens Gagliardi’s artistic concerns: of shifting realities, perception, and the instability of identity.
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While deeply personal, her work also engages broader questions about contemporary visual culture. “Some people feel like they’ve been fooled,” she notes, referring to how her digitally rendered paintings can resemble traditional canvases at first glance. This ambiguity is deliberate. “That’s why I never frame the paintings. I want it to be clear that they’re printed, but also to embrace the potential of digital painting.” Rather than resisting technology, she harnesses it to expand painting’s possibilities. “The death of painting has been declared so many times,” she muses. “If there’s a way to bring it back, it’s by acknowledging the world we live in, where technology is so important and using it as a tool, not an obstacle.” This philosophy extends to her own creative process: “My studio is always with me. I can work anywhere, which is fantastic.” In a time when artistic practice is often bound by the physical constraints of medium and space, Gagliardi embraces the fluidity of digital tools, allowing her work to exist in multiple realms at once.
‘Many Moons’ invites audiences into a space that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. Its title speaks to cycles of time, transformation, and repetition. “It can mean ‘many moons ago’ or ‘many moons later’. It speaks of time, but also of this luminous quality that I love.” Through a fusion of digital and tactile techniques, surreal yet familiar imagery, and a keen awareness of contemporary existence, Gagliardi presents an exhibition that lingers, unfolding in the mind like a half-remembered dream.
Louisa Gagliardi (1989, Sion, Switzerland) has established herself as one of the most interesting voices on the contemporary Swiss scene. In her works, in which she combines traditional painting techniques with digital technology, she explores themes such as identity, social transformations and the relationship between the individual and his environment. For her solo exhibition at MASI – her first in a Swiss museum – the artist presents a series of new productions, paintings and sculptures in a path developed specifically for the underground space of the LAC.
Sofia Hallström is a writer based in London.
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