Isabelle Cornaro

Through painting, sculpture, installation and film, Isabelle Cornaro explores the ways history and culture affect contemporary society’s perception of reality. A trained art historian specialising in 16th century European Modernism, the artist developed a visual language with art historical references to a wide range of periods, from baroque to modernism. In her series of installations titled Paysage avec poussin et témoins, Cornaro deconstructs landscapes in paintings of 17th-century artist Nicolas Poussin. Through the use of pedestals and meticulous orchestration of the display of objects, pathways and shadows, she turns landscapes into three-dimensional installations, questioning their cultural and aesthetic value. Cornaro often works with found objects and their assigned symbolism in the Western power dynamics, cultural representation and art history, tracing and challenging ways they shape one’s understanding of the world. ...

Galerie Francesca Pia was founded 1990 in Bern and from their first exhibitions forward has consistently fostered contemporary artists including Betty Woodman (1990), Peter Fischli & David Weiss (1992), Hans-Peter Feldmann (1993), Thomas Bayrle (1998), Mai-Thu Perret (2000), Wade Guyton (2004), Jutta Koether (2008) and Rochelle Feinstein (2016) et al. Today the gallery is known for the discovery and promotion of emerging artists. After 16 years in Bern, the gallery moved to a larger space in Zurich in 2007. In 2012 the gallery extended and relocated to a more generous space in the historic Löwenbrau building, where it continues to engage in an ambitious program, representing over thirty artists of different generations. ...