Animated by an interest in fables and folklore, Christina Forrer’s vibrant weavings and electrifying works on paper explore the depths of human emotion. Depicted in her signature representational style of fantastical characters with cartoonish features, her work is rendered with a keen attention to boldness of color and richness of pattern. While many of her works showcase dramatic moments of explosive conflict, they also provide the viewer access into smaller, more personal terrors: private anxieties, internal tensions, and irrational fears. Her weavings are often enormous in scale, tableaux of psychological space populated by characters that may be human, animal, or vegetal. Retaining the figurative elements of her tapestries, Forrer’s drawing practice is more widely varied, ranging from quick sketches and notations to fully articulated, discursive paintings on paper.

Christina Forrer (b. 1978, Zürich) lives and works in Los Angeles. Selected solo exhibitions include Christina Forrer: MATRIX 187, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (2021-2022); Christina Forrer: Feet of the Devil, Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2019-2020); Christina Forrer, Luhring Augustine, New York (2019); Swiss in Situ | Christina Forrer: Grappling Hold, Swiss Institute, New York (2017); and Cat Lady, The Finley, Los Angeles (2016). Selected group exhibitions include Bianca Beck, Tamara Gonzales, Christina Forrer, Beeler Gallery, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH (2021); THIS IS AMERICA, Kunstraum Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany (2021); Made in L.A. 2020: A Version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA (2020-2021); Happy !, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, FL (2019-2020); Dirty Protest: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2019); Niko Pirosmani: Promeneur entre les mondes, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles, Arles, France (2019); and Unorthodox, The Jewish Museum, New York (2015). She is the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant (2014).

Photo credit : Scott Rodd