German artist Franz Ackermann is a perpetual tourist, but not of the ordinary kind. He is on a quest for exotica in the 21st century: actively seeking cultural differences, he travels the corners of the globe, searching for the 'unknown'. Asia, the Middle East, and South America are perceived as destinations of adventure where a disquieting shift towards sameness engenders feelings of discomfort and alienation.

BIOGRAPHY

1963
• Born in Neumarkt St Veit, Germany

1984-1988
• Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich

1989-1991
• Hochschule für bildende Kunst, Hamburg
• Currently lives and works in Berlin

In Mental Map: Evasion V, Franz Ackermann creates a biotic abstraction, a template for natural phenomena dictated by design. His jumbled composition is harmonious in its turmoil: concentric patterns of colour expose hints of identifiable place (a street map, a building interior, a snippet of landscape) only to dislocate them in a maze of organic generalisations.
Franz Ackermann is a perpetual tourist: his paintings are like large trippy postcards from the edge. Dealing with globalisation and the commodification of cultural landscape, his work is representative of an ever-shrinking world.Referring to his images as ‘mental maps’, Franz Ackermann readily digests the subtle nuances of popular destinations and regurgitates them as international signifiers: brightly coloured shapes, high-impact graphics and pop iconography.

As maps, Franz Ackermann's paintings take on an all-too-familiar surrealism. Rendered with clumsy cartography, geography itself becomes unsettled. Masses twist awkwardly in time and space, unable to keep up with the concept of technological speed; the miniaturisation of the globe through supersonic flight and mass-media buzz.Through his visual travelogues, Franz Ackermann offers a provocative record of an ever-shrinking planet. Digesting the subtle nuances of popular destinations, he regurgitates them as international signifiers: brightly coloured shapes, high-impact graphics and pop iconography. Each place becomes a logoised 'non-place', a triumph of marketing over cultural difference, national identity and natural exoticism.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2004
• nonstop with the hhc Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York
• travelantitravel neugerriemschneider, Berlin

2003
• Naherholungsgebiet Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg
• Eine Nacht in den Tropen Kunsthalle, Nürnberg

2002
• Basel Public Wandinstallation Nordtangente, Basel
• The Waterfall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• Seasons in the sun Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

2000
• B.I.T . Castello di Rivoli, Turin
• welt 1... and no one else wanted to play Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe

Conclusion:
Franz Ackermann describes his paintings as 'mental maps'. Each kaleidoscopic canvas readily depicts his experience of place. The geometric compositions offer both a topographical geography and an emotive record of his thoughts and feelings on each location.

what to Do Next...

Find more information about Franz Ackermann Exhibitions or looking for his paintings please visit us on http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/franz_ackermann.htm