The partitions of the stairwell that results in Francis Offman’s exhibition “Weaving Tales” are lined in dried espresso grounds. The darkish tactile materials transforms the slender entrance to the exhibition area on the primary flooring into an immersive olfactory expertise.
Espresso is each on the core of Francis Offman conceptual understanding of portray in addition to a signifier of the 2 worlds which might be related throughout the artist’s life: he grew up in Rwanda and witnessed the genocide in 1994, throughout which extremists from the Hutu majority murdered between 800,000 and 1,000,000 individuals—many of the victims have been Tutsi, however average Hutu have been additionally killed. In 1999, Offman emigrated to Italy, the place he has lived ever since. Whereas espresso tradition is an integral a part of Italian identification at the moment, it wasn’t embedded in Rwandan society till German colonial rule (1897–1916). Espresso was grown, for export solely, in areas farmed by native individuals whose livelihoods have been destroyed and that have been compelled to work on the colonial plantations.
Offman began working with espresso grounds when opening the final package deal his mom introduced him from Rwanda. The lack of his homeland, migration and separation, the traumatic experiences of his dad and mom and the eager for the Rwanda of his childhood are evident in each one in every of his works.
To stop decomposition, Offman prepares the espresso grounds with glue and primer to create color fields on canvas. The meticulous, virtually previous masterly processes he applies in his work are firmly grounded within the Italian artwork historic canon. The artist considers his assemblages, that are animated by completely different textures and materialities, “summary work.” Generally supplies protrude over the perimeters of the unstretched canvasses, additional emphasising their haptic and three-dimensional potential. Regardless of conveying a sure lyrical spontaneity, Offman’s works are made in a time-consuming course of to stop them from shrinking or tearing. Though they converse of a devoted engagement with media-specific and technical questions, they can’t be diminished to an apolitical formalism; quite the opposite, they’re infused with the artist’s life and the historical past of (neo-)colonialism.
Offman’s inventive course of begins earlier than the precise work on canvas: with the gathering of discovered and gifted supplies that not solely create shapes and gestures, but additionally maintain particular person histories and cultural contexts. What was as soon as as a result of artist’s precarious scenario has now turn out to be his distinguishing characteristic: the trade and encounter with completely different individuals who present him with supplies–Rwanda has an particularly robust custom of oral storytelling—are an essential a part of this work. In the beginning of his follow, the artist used gifted dowry bedlinen as help for his work. Patterns are created through the use of garments that after belonged to his mom. Scraps of paper come from shoeboxes. Lower-off collars are a reference to a political gesture of resistance in opposition to the authorities by individuals in Rwanda. Oftentimes, expired gauze bandages he as soon as gathered throughout a residency type gestural strokes. They confer with the physique and evoke a way of vulnerability whereas on the similar time pointing to the distribution of expired medical merchandise to help initiatives in Africa.
For Offman, his work are like sacred objects—the immersion into their artistic and harmful energies is a type of therapeutic and remedy that has the potential for transformation. Or within the phrases of the artist: “I really like working with my fingers. Once you interact with my work, you may virtually scent the espresso or lavender. I get pleasure from how completely different surfaces create distinctive sensations, how colors work together with textures, and the way this interplay offers rise to a visible language that speaks to individuals. That is why I like experimenting with completely different supplies. When balanced accurately, they type a language that permits me to attach with others, evoke or protect feelings, and discover deep questions on life.”
at Secession, Vienna
till August 31, 2025
