Franca Bartholomäi
Work:
>About the artist's work
At first glance Franca Bartholomäi’s often very finely worked woodcuts appear to belong right in the mainstream tradition of European prints: worlds of austere black and white, representational, figurative, indeed almost illustrational. They are peopled by characters in long, highly pleated robes, the faces hard and expressive, the gestures theatrical. The relation between prints and illustration becomes very visible in her works. Like the illustrated broadsheets of the late Middle Ages, every detail in them seems to tell a story. Her prints are teeming with symbols, allusions and references. But the apparent familiarity of their scenes is continually being crossed by elements from the world of the comic strip, from fantasy and science fiction. They are combined and confronted with elements of pop culture, creating a perplexing side by side of old and new, of timeless and transient, of standstill and movement. But despite all the complexity of these works a clear theme does emerge within them: modern man in the conflict between needing roots and being mobile, between his longing for security and his urge to be free.
Website:
>Biography
1975 born in Hohenmoelsen
1994 - 2003 studies at the "Burg Giebichenstein" College of Art in Hall diploma and
postgraduate studies in painting and printmaking under Prof. Thomas Rug
since 2003 freelance
since 2010 teacher for woodcut at the "Burg Giebichenstein" College of Art in Halle
many exhibitions in Germany and abroad, for example in Halle, Leipzig (Gallery Hoch+Partner), Mannheim (Collection Merkel/Gates of Eden), Brüssel, New York and Shanghai (StageBack-Gallery)
Awards and scholarships
2009 Reshaping of the "Katharinenaltar" in the cathedral of Magdeburg
Scholarship as artist in residence "Roederhof"
Scholarship as artist in residence "Kuenstlerhaus Lukas", Ahrenshoop
2008 Kügelgen-Scholarship in Bernburg
Scholarship of ESCO, European Salt Company, Bernburg
Scholarship of the Artfounation of Saxonxy-Anhalt
2007 Catalog-Scholarship of the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung (East German Savings Bank
foundation)
2006 Scholarship for ISCP (Internatinal Studio and Curatorial Program) in New York, USA
2005 Scholarship residence at GEDOK in Luebeck
2003 Scholarship for VCCA (Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, USA)
2002 Scholarship as artist in residence "Schloß Wiepersdorf"
2001 Postgraduate scholarship
2000 Ars Halensis Award