Franz Ackermann

Franz Ackermann, one of today's most admired artists, is also among the most widely traveled. Absorbing the moods of far-flung places, Ackermann makes colorful watercolors that inform larger paintings he calls “mental maps.” This book documents Stadtgalerie Altötting's exhibition of pictures inspired by a bus journey along the west coast of South America.

Born in 1963, Franz Ackermann is one of the most influential German artists of his generation. Travel is of fundamental importance to his work: at a given site, Ackermann fixes his personal perceptions into "mental maps." These imaginary maps of city and countryside are eventually turned into large-format paintings, which he later develops into installations made up of drawings, paintings, photography, film, objects, text and sculptural inserts. According to Artforum, "Ackermann translates sensation into a system of signs and colors…seeking to come to terms with the condition of being a tourist that all of us are now fated to live out in our relationship with the world. It's an uprooted relationship, rushed, made up of crossings, of trips that never become a 'journey,' perceptions that never are transformed into relationships (either with places or with other people), of places that never constitute a 'place.'" This monograph focuses on two large installations in depth.