Nostalgia for seemingly better times, or perhaps, simultaneously, a secret yearning for worse times to come are woven into Francisca Ahlers’s scenes, in a back and forth of strokes which fluidly depict time and fractured time.

The main themes are the past, oblivion, solitude and waiting combined with a poetic method of recovering memory using black and white with just a few segments of colour. The artist’s usual medium is charcoal, which she uses to give life to ancient, uninhabited rooms.

The scenes reflect the romance of times gone by, as well as the space’s descent from riches to rags. An excess of baroque highlights the emptiness of exterior scenes, whilst the same feeling is created inside by the inhabitants, who usually appear as lost characters peering out, seeming to show the spectator around their habitat without realizing that they are actually part of its beautiful decadence.

The works are mainly composed of frayed lines, eloquently depicting the emotional state of people and elements, often morphing into swarms which symbolize the characters’ neurosis and the energy in the air. As such, the artist accentuates the feeling of anti-habitat emanated by her work, producing a curious and alluring effect: being faced with an apparently uninhabitable environment which, at the same time, seems welcoming, even familiar, awakening our curiosity for these timeless, exquisite and ghostly portraits.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2009

• Cultural Event Face. Santiago de Chile, Chile
• Le Antique Boutique. Barcelona, Spain

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011

• Villa del Arte Galleries. Barcelona, Spain.
• AAF Brussels. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Brussels, Belgium
• AAF Milan. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Milan, Italy
• IFAE Palm Beach. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Florida, USA

2010

• Red Dot Art Fair. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Florida, USA
• ST-ART. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Strasbourg, France
• Art London. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. London, UK
• AAF London. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. London, UK
• Open Art Fair. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Utrecht, Netherlands
• AAF New York. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. New York, USA
• Art Hamptons. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. New York, USA
• AAF Paris. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Paris, France
• Art Chicago. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Chicago, USA
• ASFH. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Netherlands
• AAF Brussels. Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain. Brussels, Belgium
• Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona, Spain.

2009

• Villa del Arte Galleries. Barcelona, Spain
• El Escaparate project.  Barcelona, Spain
• Dia Internacional de la Pintura. Barcelona, Spain

2008

• Elena Blanco Studios. Santiago de Chile, Chile

2007

• Elena Blanco Studios. Santiago de Chile, Chile
• Subterraneo. Santiago de Chile, Chile

2006

• Elena Blanco Studios. Santiago de Chile, Chile

AWARDS

2007

• First Prize at Concurso de Pintura Marco Antonio Bontà, MAC (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo). Santiago de Chile, Chile.