Years of collecting books, travel archives and studying art in Europe, went hand in hand with visiting historical monuments and grand palaces, remnants of past golden eras. This nostalgic raking over the past encompasses these inspirational elements, weaved together with her own curiosity in loose charcoal lines depicting Baroque, whimsical and once decadent interiors.
For many years Ahlers was content with the simplicity of black charcoal on white canvas, adding carefully curated splashes of colour to her otherwise spontaneous work. Recently this has given way to her new need to explore colour further with vibrant acrylics bringing waves of new life to her familiar majestic salons and solitary figures that are so important to her narrative. With spontaneous gestures, nostalgic moments are immortalized in time.
“The rooms in my paintings are small trips to the past. I look for an alternative reality through a fictional scenario, represented by a dystopian era of booms and declines.”
Francisca Ahlers has exhibited internationally with Villa del Arte Galleries for over a decade in Barcelona, Amsterdam, London, NYC, Chicago and Miami. She now lives and works in Chile.
