{"id":20486,"date":"2021-09-22T08:51:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T12:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=20486"},"modified":"2021-09-22T08:51:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T12:51:47","slug":"christina-forrer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2021\/09\/22\/christina-forrer\/","title":{"rendered":"Christina Forrer\u2019s Psychologically-Charged Tapestries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s usually something that happens in my daily life or that I see, a fight between two individuals, a conflict where there\u2019s aggression towards you,\u201d Christina Forrer said in a 2016 video from the Swiss Institute. \u201cFrom the first second we are born, conflict kind of guides our lives. I think it\u2019s what makes people do things, good or bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her brightly-colored weavings and drawings, \u00a0on view in \u201cChristina Forrer \/ MATRIX 187\u201d<\/a> at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, from Aug. 13, 2021, to Jan. 2, 2022, can feel like myths and fairytales, often charged with anxieties\u2014from everyday family life to portents of global warming calamity. Her style can bring to mind folk art and cartoons.<\/p>\n

Forrer was born in Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland, in 1978, and has been based in Los Angeles since she moved there for school in 1999. Her inspirations include early 20th century German Expressionism (particularly the tapestries German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) made with Swiss artist Lise Gujer (1893-1967)), and Swedish textile artist Hannah Ryggen.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer (right) with curator Patricia Hickson at \u201cChristina Forrer \/ MATRIX 187\u201d at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 2021. (Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHer fantastical compositions explore themes of family discord and environmental strife, using a visual language rooted in classical mythology and the regional folk traditions of her native Switzerland,\u201d Patricia Hickson, the Wadsworth\u2019s Curator of Contemporary Art, writes in an exhibition brochure<\/a>. \u201cHer raw and energetic weaving style, vivid color palette, and intentionally misaligned panels combine effects of the handmade with the magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the center of the Wadsworth exhibition is \u201cSepulcher,\u201d four vertical weavings of cotton, wool and linen stitched together to create a tapestry 13 feet wide. \u201cIn \u2018Sepulcher,\u2019 earth, air, fire, and water become what Forrer calls \u2018natural forces,\u2019 animating the composition as dominant, larger figures who radiate, strike, cascade, and burn,\u201d Hickson writes. \u201cThe sun sets fire to the Earth. Flora and fauna are plentiful, but dwarf the smaller humans who have lost all agency and control. Instead of standing above and outside nature, trailing vines, fire lines, blowing winds, and waterfalls connect humans together with animals, plant life, and the elements. In the lower left, the figure paddling the boat evokes Charon of Greek mythology who ferries the dead across the River Styx to the Underworld. On the right, an Adam and Eve story unravels with Eve borne from Adam\u2019s mouth, her arm wrapping the tree and becoming a snake. Is this a cautionary tale, a disaster painting, or the Fall of Man? Overseeing the action, a female figure on the left\u2014perhaps Forrer?\u2014calmly observes the commotion with radiating vision in the form of mourning hearts, a sign. A hopeful Phoenix appears.\u201d<\/p>\n

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If this is the kind of coverage of arts, nature, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, (hopefully) weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2021 or the respective creators.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer, “Sepulcher,” 2021. Wool, cotton and linen. 97 in. x 162 in. (\u00a9 Christina Forrer; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Photo: Joshua White).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer, “We are never there (much),” 2021. Watercolor and gouache on paper. 12 in. x 12 in. (\u00a9 Christina Forrer; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Photo: Joshua White).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer, “Quick Face (or primeval worry),” 2021. Cotton, wool and linen. 18 \u00bc in. x 11 \u00be in. (\u00a9 Christina Forrer; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Photo: Joshua White).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer, “High Tide (big bow),” 2021. Cotton, wool and linen. 81 in. x 41 in. (\u00a9 Christina Forrer; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Photo: Joshua White).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer artworks at left and right with broaches and polar bear table mat in between, at \u201cChristina Forrer \/ MATRIX 187\u201d at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 2021. (Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Forrer’s “Sepulcher,” 2021, on view in \u201cChristina Forrer \/ MATRIX 187\u201d at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 2021. (Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n