Franz Ackermann

Franz Ackermann is one of the foremost German painters of his generation. When awarded a stipend in 1991, Franz Ackermann headed for Hong Kong rather than any of the more conventional centres of the art world. Ever since, his works have reflected the social changes wrought by increasing globalization and the resulting cultural homogenization. This also applies to the rural spaces that appear repeatedly in his works as well, albeit reduced to a merely functional appendage of the urban: as places of recreation and tacky tourism.

Ackermann’s focus is on visual expressions of modern urbanity. Architectural elements occur frequently in his works, either as drawings, photographs or paintings. He sets the centuries-old idealized image of the city against his own highly subjective impression of contemporary reality in the metropolis of today. In his paintings and collage-like images, and in his sometimes gigantic wall installations, fantastical spatial perspectives unfold: abstract colour fields whirling around disintegrating central structures seem to physically tumble towards the viewer. —Axel Jablonski