Marc Ninghetto

MARC NINGHETTO

Marc Ninghetto was born in Geneva in 1972. After graduating from the Vevey School of Photography in 1995, he left for Paris to become first assistant to Dominique Issermann after the acclaimed French photographer had shown interest in Ninghetto’s work.

During his year in the French capital, Ninghetto flourished under Issermann’s tutelage and gained the skill and confidence to develop his own style and technique and set up as an independent.

Marc Ninghetto

When Ninghetto returned to Geneva in 1999, his reputation as a photographer, both in the world of fashion and the watch industry, grew thanks to his work for the likes of Studio Currat and in 2006 Ninghetto set up his own photography and graphic design agency, La Fabrique.

Parallel to his work in the high-end fashion and jewellery industry, Ninghetto has also channelled his talent into personal artwork that has seen him put on over 15 exhibitions in as many years. He has increasingly devoted his energies into these personal creations that focus on human subjects, invariably females.

Thanks to the dreamlike veil that envelops this work, his sensitive eye for detail and his original style and technique christened ‘digital sampling’, Ninghetto has become one of the biggest names in Swiss art photography.

THE SOLITUDE OF A MACHINE II

The M.A.D.Gallery is extremely pleased to present the second edition of ‘The Solitude of a Machine’, an exhibition of seven large-format prints by renowned Swiss photographer Marc Ninghetto.

For Geneva native Marc Ninghetto, creating a surreal series of photos based on his childhood heroes was something that he had wanted to do for a long time. However, as a deviation from his usual style of haute horlogerie and art photography, he had never found the platform to carry it out. Until 2012, that is, he was asked to create something for the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery.

“When Maximilian Büsser proposed that I put on an exhibition at the M.A.D.Gallery, I thought that it would be a great chance to create something totally different to what I usually do, something more playful, and a break from my traditional style and subjects.”

“And so, with a large dollop of nostalgia, I revisited my heroes from yesteryear, and set about producing ‘The Solitude of a Machine’ collection of photos”

Marc Ninghetto

GRENDIZER

The Machine at the heart of this new exhibition called ‘The Solitude of a Machine II’ is none other than the Japanese manga robot Grendizer, known as ‘Goldorak’ in French.’

“The M.A.D.Gallery is the perfect environment for him” says the photographer. “Not least because MB&F themselves are fans of Grendizer. After all, the MB&F rotor and buckle designs take their cues from the shape of this robot’s battle-axe, known as the asterohache in French.”

While Grendizer hails from the fictional planet Fleed, Ninghetto has succeeded in taking him from the environs of the graphic novel and TV animation, transplanting him into the real world – our world.

The result is a superb collection of fine art prints that subtly manages to imbue this cult robot with a sense of otherness and estrangement on finding himself in a real-life terrestrial environment.

In order to create the artworks, Ninghetto put to excellent use a technique he calls ‘digital sampling’, which he has gradually developed over his career. In the case of ‘The Solitude of a Machine II’, this involved taking shots of a three-dimensional robot model. He then subtly incorporated it with photographs from his personal databank, a repository of photos that the artist has taken and amassed over the years to form a rich palette of images that he can subsequently use to ‘paint’ with.

Marc Ninghetto

collection

The result is a series of striking photos in which Grendizer is juxtaposed in a number of earthly surroundings. Through the deft use of shadow and light in close-ups through to long shots, the robot’s existences vary from subtle to asserted.

“I didn’t want these images to look like the cover of a game for kids. I wanted to integrate them into the real world, and endow them with sentiments, with them wondering what they are doing there. They aren’t so much sad as lost and uncertain,” adds Ninghetto.

‘The Solitude of a Machine II’ comprises seven photos, each in a limited edition of 18 luxury prints (all formats combined).
These prints are available in three sizes:

120x84cm CHF 1’950
170x120cm CHF 3’900
214x150cm CHF 5’900

It also includes a collector box limited to 18 editions, gathering all 7 images from the series plus one bonus image – CHF 1’950.

Marc Ninghetto LE DELUGE DU NOUVEAU MONDE*
  • * only available in 84x120 cm and 120x170 cm
Marc Ninghetto LE MEILLEUR AMI
Marc Ninghetto DES FOURMIS ET DES HOMMES
Marc Ninghetto POUR L’AMOUR DE LA TERRE
Marc Ninghetto LE MONDE EN FUSION
Marc Ninghetto LES FRERES DE L’ESPACE
Marc Ninghetto LE BALLET DES REQUINS
Marc Ninghetto collector box

Limited to 18 editions, gathering all 7 images from the series
plus one bonus image.
43x53x7 cm - CHF 1’950

First series

Some images of the first exhibition are still available. For more information, please contact info@madgallery.ch

Marc Ninghetto LES AMOUREUX D’EUPHOR
Marc Ninghetto LA FORET DE CORAIL
Marc Ninghetto LA PIERRE DE FOUDRE
Marc Ninghetto BONS SOUVENIRS DE TERRE
Marc Ninghetto LE BAPTEME DU FEU
Marc Ninghetto L’ILE D’ACIER
Marc Ninghetto UN GRAND ENTRE LES GRANDS
Marc Ninghetto LE JOUR OU LE SOLEIL S’ARRETA