Franziska Klotz – H3PO4
Her most recent works are primarily based on historical photographs of the destruction of Dresden in 1945. The artist’s examination of this theme originates from her personal relationship to the events in her home town. Through her extensive research in the Dresden archives, the artist found a variety of formally impressive motifs of the ruined city, which she connects with motifs from other historical contexts, such as pictures of the burning oil fields in Kuwait, creating impressive compositions.
The title “H3PO4” – the chemical formula for phosphoric acid – opens another mental space, by alluding to the myth of the bombing of Dresden with phosphorus bombs: The boundary between experienced reality, imagination and myth-making is removed, resulting in a new, visual reality that moves away from the concrete event.
We are delighted to present the exhibition H3PO4, featuring new works by Franziska Klotz, from 21 June to 9 August 2014.
The organization of the pictorial field through colour, form and surface—the fundamental means of painting—is central to the art of Franziska Klotz (b. 1979, Dresden). Her work is characterized by a virtuosic handling of different painterly modes. Through these purely painterly means, the Berlin-based artist consistently engages with the real world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, pursuing a subjective perspective shaped by her personal impressions and emotions.
Her most recent works are primarily based on historical photographs documenting the destruction of Dresden in 1945. The artist’s engagement with this subject arises from her personal relationship to the events in her hometown. Through extensive research in the Dresden archives, she identified formally compelling motifs of the ruined city, which she connects with images from other historical contexts—such as photographs of burning oil fields in Kuwait—creating powerful compositions.
In this way, Klotz combines personal experience with the visual memory of collective trauma, producing autonomous contemporary history paintings. “Dresden” becomes a metaphor that extends far beyond the specific location or historical event.
The exhibition title H3PO4—the chemical formula for phosphoric acid—opens an additional conceptual space by referencing the myth of the bombing of Dresden with phosphorus bombs. The boundaries between lived experience, imagination and myth-making dissolve, giving rise to a new visual reality that distances itself from literal representation.
These works also reveal an idealistic dialogue with historical images such as The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1562, Prado, Madrid). Bruegel’s painting functions as a metaphor for the victory of death over life while simultaneously depicting scenes of violence, destruction and suffering drawn from the reality of the artist’s own time. Similarly, Klotz’s Dresden paintings reflect a critical engagement with socio-political issues that transcend the specific historical event.
Questions of guilt and punishment dissolve into the unsettling fascination and power inherent in images of chaos and destruction.
Franziska Klotz never abandons the object or the orientation of painting toward reality. Yet her intense and powerful images are always more than representational depictions. Regardless of subject matter, her paintings exist foremost as autonomous painterly compositions—emotionally compelling even without knowledge of their historical references.
Franziska Klotz studied painting at the Berlin-Weißensee Art Academy. She was awarded the Max Ernst Scholarship by the town of Brühl and was selected as a fellow of the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul in summer 2015. In summer 2014, she was represented with five large-scale paintings at the 4th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, curated by David Elliott under the title A Time for Dreams.
