Piaget kicks off Art Genève partnership with a new artist collaboration
Artist Gregor Hildebrandt was inspired by Piaget's partnership with Andy Warhol for a work debuting at Art Genève (29 January - 1 February)
Piaget’s sponsorship of the Prix Solo Art Genève-Piaget (a prize which recognises the stand-out gallery booth at Art Genève) draws on a long tradition at the intersection of horology and art. Piaget can trace its art roots back to the Sixties, when Yves Piaget cultivated a strong network of artist collaborations, partnering with creatives including Salvador Dali, Arman, Hans Erni and Alberto Rizzo on bold and brilliant watches.
Andy Warhol was one famous fan, and an ongoing partnership between Piaget and the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts ensures his influence is an enduring one. It is a relationship French designer Jérémy Pradier-Jeauneau has drawn on when decorating the Piaget space Art Genève exhibition, which features a work by German artist Gregor Hildebrandt.
Yves Piaget and Andy Warhol
Hildebrandt, who happened upon a Piaget Andy Warhol watch, was inspired by his discovery, creating a work using audio magnetic tapes of David Bowie’s song ‘Andy Warhol.’ ‘Stefan Düe from my studio pointed out the Andy Warhol watch to me, knowing how much I admire him, and jokingly asked if it might be something for me,’ says Hildebrandt on how his work for Piaget came about. ‘Unfortunately, it was too expensive at the time, but wait a minute, it looked just like my cassette tape. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay homage to Andy Warhol, Piaget and David Bowie. Also with regard to my solo exhibition last autumn at Mezzanin in Geneva. In fact, even now, the image itself reminds me most of Gerhard Richter. Things often turn out differently than you think.’
Piaget Warhol Tiger Eye watch 2025
Work by Gregor-Hildebrandt
The bold colours of the watch, particularly the tiger’s eye motif, proved irresistible. ‘The colorfulness of the tiger's eye and the color facets of the cassette tape form a good synergy, and the challenge was to get it as close as possible. Each cassette tape strip, recorded with Bowie's Andy Warhol song, is placed and glued in the same way as the tiger's eye in the Piaget Andy Warhol watch.’
In the work Hildebrandt considers concepts of time, both permanent and fleeting. ‘The approach of my work is conceptual, and poetry and songs are stored on the magnetic tape,’ he adds. ‘Oil paint is much older, and yet I still enjoy looking at pictures painted with it.’
Art Genève takes place 29 January to 1 February
