Franziska Klotz turns her attention to young people in her cycle »sur-faces«. Her source material consists of selfies and photographs that adolescents use to present themselves online. What we see, then, are self-stagings by teenagers—reinterpreted through the eyes and painted hand of Franziska Klotz.
The title »sur-faces« plays on both the smooth surfaces of smartphones and the faces of the mostly female protagonists. Their bodies, photographed in protected, private spaces, are opened up to the vastness of the internet.
Where, in this process, does the materiality of being remain? How can one approach young people artistically, despite the separating screen? Franziska Klotz chooses an expressive and fragmentary style of painting in response. The partially raw, exposed canvas plays a decisive role in shaping the expression of the works, making them appear as vulnerable as the figures they depict.
The fleeting, often trivial moments originally captured by the phone cameras—moments from that surreal period between childhood and adulthood—are given permanence in Klotz’s paintings.
To the »sur-faces« series, the artist adds images of shattered panes of glass. Just as the surface of a painting marks a boundary between two worlds—between the seen and the unseen—the screen of a smartphone acts as a similar threshold. In depicting broken glass, Franziska Klotz highlights those liminal moments where the two realms might intersect.
About Franziska Klotz
Born in Dresden in 1979
1998 – 1999
Internships at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Volksbühne Berlin, and the Berliner Ensemble
1999
Studied stage and costume design at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
2000 – 2005
Studied painting at the Berlin-Weißensee Academy of Art, graduated with a diploma
2006
Master student under Werner Liebmann at the Berlin-Weißensee Academy of Art
Franziska Klotz lives and works in Berlin.