FRIBOURG.- Friart is dedicating a major retrospective to Bernhard Schobinger, the artist at the heart of a revolution in jewelry creation. Revisiting an original oeuvre spanning 50 years, the exhibition pays homage to an independent figure who stands alone in the art of his country and beyond.

From his connections with Concrete art to punk rebellion, from postmodern eclecticism to the smallest of zen-influenced touches, Schobinger’s work testifies to a constant experimentation that belies any hierarchisation of the arts. Making extensive use of formal and technical invention, it holds up the coming together of opposites, the subtle transfiguration of everyday objects charged with individual stories. In the democracy of materials instituted by the artist, noble metals and precious stones sit alongside the waste of industrial civilisation.

On the first floor, the artist presents a new series of works he has been working on for several years. Employing fragments retrieved from the rubble of Berlin, a city destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, it invokes the connections between memory and destruction that shape the artist’s poetics.

The exhibition is organized in close collaboration with the artist and Martina Simeti Gallery, Milan.

Bernhard Schobinger (1946, CH) lives and works in Richterswil (ZH). A graduate of the Zurich School of Applied Arts, he has been working independently since 1968 and has gained international recognition. Bernhard Schobinger’s work has recently been the subject of major gallery exhibitions, marking a turning point in his recognition in the contemporary art world, notably with Gimme Danger, curated by Saim Demircan, at the Martina Simeti Gallery in 2023, and Against Method, at the Francesca Pia gallery in 2024. He is represented by Martina Simeti Gallery.

Bernhard Schobinger’s work can be found in a number of important public collections, including Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; LACM, Los Angeles; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphie; Rotasa Collection Trust, California; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Pinakothek der Moderne, Die Neue Sammlung, Münich; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris; mudac, Lausanne; Museum Bellerive / Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich; Kunsthaus Zug; Schweizerisches National Museum, Zurich and the Museum für angewandte Künste, Cologne.