In Planning - Artist in Focus - Francisco Roza - May 2016

The exhibition In Planning presents the new body of work by the artist Francisco Rozas. He investigates the perception of the art gallery as a site-specific exhibition space to stir his planning and design processes with the aim to extend the language of sculpture.
 

A rectangular-shaped sculpture installed on a small flight of stairs catches the visitor’s eye through the front window.  From the distance the structure gives the impression of being a bookshelf filled with literary works. Here, Rozas utilises laminated floor board sections, which extend onto each individual step, creating an unexpected effect.  Other sculptures consist of black vertical proportioned elements -  secretive and voluminous – dwelling in the exhibition space.  Their imitative nature is determined by particular materials and result in distortions, oscillating between two and three-dimensionality. Only at second glance do these works reveal their fragile and deceptive nature, verifying that their components are not what they appear to be. Delicately constructed from cardboard rather than stone or metal, they explore shape, volume and contrast as well as illustrating the artist's vision and desire to examine and interpret an aesthetic situation in a spatial context.
 

Rozas confronts the onlooker continuously with ambiguity, a theme that is inherently present in his playful practice.  With an endless scope for investigation and material explorations, these recent works offer an immersive quality and tease our senses.

Francisco Rozas was born 1980 in Temuco, Chile, and lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the ARCIS University Santiago de Chile, at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Professor, Rita McBride, at the Universität der Künste UdK Berlin with Professor, Gregor Schneider, Art in Context (Masters Degree). He received the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch-Dienst) stipend and the CONICYT (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) award.

His work has been shown at many institutions and galleries: Kunsthalle Bremerhaven; Al Riwaq Art Space (Manama, Bahrain); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Project Space Berger Straße, Frankfurt a.M.; Katzengold, lvbg-Jubiläumsausstellung (curated by Constanze Kleiner), POSITIONS BERLIN art fair 2015; Video Lounge, POSITIONS BERLIN art fair 2014 + 2015; Galerie PANAM, Santiago, Chile; Galerie Gilla Lörcher I Contemporary Art (Berlin)