Evasion (Eye on You)

Franz Ackermann's subject matter is taken from various locations around the world and yet no single specific location can be identified in these paintings. For Ackermann, the forces of tourism and consumerism have morphed different countries and cities away from their own distinctive natures. As a result, the viewer can recognize structures within the composition but at the same time realise how these once familiar architectural shapes have been distorted to the extent that they are no longer our own. The overall effect is at once unsettling and captivating, creating the exact moment where the endless divergence of society can be interrupted. As Jansen suggests: 'With his eyes faithful to his homeland and its geographical relationship clearly in his mind he creates for himself and for us perspectives that could never have been seen in satellite pictures or maps. Ackermann is searching for new logical associations between spatial things, the words that we use to refer to these objects, and the mental images that we create of them.' (G. Jansen, quoted in 'Comparative Imagology', in Franz Ackermann: Seasons in the Sun, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 2002, p. 19).