RIEN NE SERT DE COURIR
Didier Merlin

Opening Wednesday April 22, 2026, 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition from April 22 to May 3, 2026, 2pm – 7pm
Finissage Sunday May 3, 2026

Espace Kugler Gallery – Geneva

Figures trapped beneath glass, between illusion, narrative and a shifted view of reality

With Rien ne sert de courir, Didier Merlin presents a series of suspended images, somewhere between snapshot and staged scene. His figures, often enigmatic, appear trapped beneath the smooth surface of glass, frozen in an uncertain moment between appearance and disappearance.

Working with the reverse glass painting technique since the 1990s, the artist has developed a distinctive visual language in which the image is built in reverse: details come first, backgrounds last, and any correction becomes impossible. This constraint generates a precise, tense and almost irreversible form of painting.

Since 2019, the use of acrylic glass has allowed him to explore larger formats and incorporate drypoint engraving, reinforcing the sharpness and intensity of his line. The absence of visible pictorial matter and the glossy surface evoke a mediated image, like a screen reflecting a distorted vision of our reality.

Without aiming to directly depict current events, Didier Merlin offers a shifted, imaginative and sometimes unsettling interpretation of them. His works function as altered mirrors, where the intimate and the collective, reality and imagination intertwine.

The works presented reflect this exploration, combining fragmented narratives and symbolic compositions, where bodies, masks and hybrid figures question our perception and our relationship to the world.

Didier Merlin lives and works in Haute-Savoie. Trained at the Fine Arts and Decorative Arts schools of Geneva, he has developed since the 1990s a practice centered on reverse glass painting. His work has evolved from a purely aesthetic approach toward a more expressive one, incorporating both traditional techniques and elements from street art (stencils, spray paint).

www.didier-merlin.com
Instagram: @didier.merlin