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GRÉGORY SUGNAUX

Toxic Wasn't Just a Song

28.03. -
09.05.2025

Opening: 28.03.2025 | 6 - 10 pm




                                     




Open hours: Fri. 4 - 6 pm, Sat. 2 - 5 pm
or by appointment
 
 

Toxic Wasn’t Just a Song_3 copie.jpeg

For the first solo exhibition at KALI Gallery, Swiss artist Grégory Sugnaux presents Toxic Wasn‘t Just a Song, a compelling exploration of memory, nostalgia, and the pervasive influence of pop culture. Drawing from the iconic imagery of the 

early 2000s, Sugnaux reimagines familiar moments—both absurd and grotesque—through vibrant paintings that blur the boundaries between high and low culture, memory and performance. Inspired by the iconic Britney Spears track Toxic, the exhibition examines how certain cultural symbols from this era continue to shape our collective emotional landscape. From the awkward intimacy of celebrity moments to the visual overload of mass media, Sugnaux challenges how we consume and remember images. His works reinterpret these images—such as Britney Spears with a Disney World shopping bag or Eminem’s forced kiss with a fan—imbuing them with both humor and an unsettling tenderness that evokes a sense of discomfort and 

longing.

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Sugnaux‘s practice engages with images not only as representations but as active agents in the construction of reality, questioning the mechanisms by which meaning is assigned to them. His use of pop culture alongside references to art history, comics, and video games forms a dynamic language that invites viewers to reconsider the fluidity of cultural representation. Through this recontextualization, he disrupts hierarchical narratives and creates space for a more nuanced, multifaceted understanding of visual culture. In Toxic Wasn‘t Just a Song, Sugnaux asks viewers to reflect on their own relationship with these cultural icons and to consider how they, too, participate in reshaping the ways images define us. With humor, discomfort, and melancholy interwoven throughout, this exhibition offers a space to confront the constructed nature of memory, emotion, and identity in the digital age.

© KALI Gallery 2018 - 2025

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