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until 16.12. | #4073ARTatBerlin | BBA Gallery shows from 04. November 2023 (Opening: 03.11.) the exhibition The Color of Absence by the artist Fran Forman.
Born in the 1940s, US artist and cinematic storyteller Fran Forman constructs visual narratives by combining various photographs of places, people and objects. The staged compositions reflect the paradox of the digital age: despite increasing global connectivity, we are painfully separated from each other. This deep loneliness is once again characteristic of today’s society and forms the basis for the series “The Color of Absence”. The BBA Gallery discovered Fran Forman as part of the BBA Artist Award 2022. One year later, the BBA Gallery presents “The Color of Absence”, Fran Forman’s first solo exhibition in Berlin and Germany.
Cinematic storyteller and American artist Fran Forman constructs visual narratives that express the profound loneliness that characterises contemporary society. The staged compositions – from various photographs of objects, places and people – reveal the paradox of the digital age: Separation despite global interconnectedness. Following Hopper’s social realism, the familiar settings in the photographs isolate their protagonists, who are themselves surrounded by an air of fragility. Trapped in their own fantasies, the community and kinship they long for is unattainable.
Fran Forman, Sebastiaan Sitting, Photographie, 2023, courtesy Fran Forman
Each of the photographs is its own story that is immediately personal. The subjects, in an uncertain environment, are as elusive as the shadows that surround them, immersed in their inner lives. The geometric play of light and shadow in the empty spaces suggests stability, refuge and a solid foundation. Despite the allusion to warmth, the characters struggle with longing and lost kinship. Forman offers hope of escape in the form of portals: a lit window, a mirror, a door ajar. These “escape hatches” point the way to finding each other again and forging new relationships in the turmoil of our daily lives.
As a member of the baby boomer generation, Fran Forman has a comprehensive understanding of the socio-political changes in society in “The Colour of Absence”. With a degree in sociology and several years working as a therapist, Fran Forman has developed a keen psychological sense of the crises that have steadily gained ground in America since the 1960s. In her bleak scenarios, all generations feel the personal effects of increasing social polarisation. Remarkably, the artist readily incorporates new technological achievements into her work, with artificial intelligence being another tool in her inventory.
Discovered by BBA Gallery through the shortlist of the BBA Artist Prize 2022, The Color of Absence is her first solo exhibition in Berlin, Germany.
Opening: Friday, 03. November 2023, 6 – 9 pm
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 04. November, until Saturday, 16. December 2023
Artist Talk: 05. November 2023, from 18:00 Uhr
To the gallery
Image caption: Fran Forman, Yellow Curtain, Photographie, 2023, courtesy Fran Forman
Exhibition Fran Forman – BBA Gallery | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
