Franz Ackermann
Born 1963, Neumarkt St. Veit, West Germany
Lives and works in Berlin

The gouaches of Franz Ackermann document the artist’s experiences in cities around the world. The works combine the external reality of a location with the artist’s subjective feelings about that place. These intimate visual journals, which Ackermann refers to as "mental maps," temper the fact-based precision of traditional street maps with his personal impressions of a locale’s activity. Abstract bands of vibrant color join recognizable shapes and symbols to communicate the nomadic itinerary of a world traveler.

Franz Ackermann, untitled (pacific no. 14: no one will ever obstruct your view), 1998, mixed media on paper, 9 13/16 x 13 in. (25 x 33 cm)

Franz Ackermann (installation view) 

Franz Ackermann’s paintings, gouaches, and installations have been included in group exhibitions in Europe and the United States since 1997, including Time Out, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, and Heaven, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York (1997); Atlas Mapping, Kunsthaus Bregenz (1998); and Frieze, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, Dream City, Kunstverein München, Munich, and go away: artists and travel, Royal College of Art, London (1999). Since his first solo show in 1989, Ackermann’s work has been presented in exhibitions at neugerriemschneider, Berlin (1994, 1996, 1998), Gavin Brownn’s enterprise, New York (1995, 1997), and at major venues in Germany, including Portikus Frankfurt am Main and Städtische Galerie Nordhorn (1997), Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (1998), and Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel (1999).

Education
1984-88 Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich

1989-91 Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg

Selected Further Reading
Richie, Matthew. “Franz Ackermann, Manfred Pernice, Gregor Schneider: The New City.” art/text no. 65 (May-July 1999): 72-74, cover.

Ackermann, Franz. “Wish You Were Here.” Frieze 44 (January/February 1999): 37Ð38.

Portikus Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Franz Ackermann: Mental Maps (1997). Exhibition catalogue, text by Harald Fricke.

Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Germany. Unerwartet: Franz Ackermann (1997). Exhibition catalogue.

Decter, Joshua. “Franz Ackermann: Thomas Solomon’s Garage.” Artforum 34, no. 3 (November 1995): 97-98.