Christina Forrer

Christina Forrer weaves her tapestries combining wool and cotton yarns in vibrant, contrasting colours. Forrer creates soft, textured tapestries that she hangs raw, unframed directly onto the wall. Her work draws on her attachment to classic folklore and children’s tales, transporting the viewer into an alternate imaginary universe – both with the characters and scenes that she represents, and thanks to the medium of the tapestry itself, which alludes to the handcrafted, domestic and ritualistic practice of weaving.

Hallowed Ground is packed with colour and action. The tapestry is composed of two horizontal rectangular panels, stitched together with an unapologetic white thread. The composition thus appears to have two sides: on the bottom, a chariot racing along the trees with three frantic, whimsical figures togging at two wild horses. On the top, little bugs and creatures inhabit a rainbow-colored forest, seemingly unphased by the chariot’s swift passage. For Forrer, the forest is a cherished source of inspiration: in her native Switzerland, the forests are accessible, magical places that withhold countless tales and set the scene for imaginary adventures. Briming with life and energy, in Hallowed Ground the forest is a harmonious ensemble of creatures and cloud-like trees. Playful and controlled at once, the tapestry is an invitation to imagine : where are these three characters racing to? Each one presents distinctive characteristics: a fluffy, bearded fellow with glasses holds the reins, a surreal character in the middle harboring two horns ins crying as he holds on to the chariot, and a third character in the back seems on the brink of falling overboard – perhaps into the hallowed ground of the forest.

Forrer’s mastery of scale and color combination creates a unique patchwork of action and meditation that is as comforting in its softness as intriguing in its mystery.

Christina Forrer (b.1978, Zürich, Switzerland) is based in Los Angeles where she lives and works. Forrer makes tapestries that are psychologically charged, but often by means of energetic interaction dynamics suspended in a fraught narrative. Brilliant, raucous, warm, and biting, they bring traditional Swiss textiles into a thoroughly contemporary comic context, inside jokes looming large in her brightly colored woven surfaces. 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).