A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown
Parallel Planets presents Zaria Forman
in Painting the World
Story and Interview by Koji Arsua
Mentioned: climate change, landscapes, and bacon
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| Greenland #62. Image by Zaria Forman |
The forces of nature can be best described as unpredictable. It can be erratic and fickle-minded, but artist Zaria Forman finds tranquility in the turbulent seas and the capricious skies. The American artist is known for her sweeping landscapes of water and air, and her mastery has revealed a realism in a world of pastel and paper.
Forman has been drawing and painting since she was a child, a talent which was developed in school. She attended a school that used alternative approaches to education and greatly infused art, and this encouraged her love for the field. She finds her inspiration in the natural world, due to her extensive traveling when she was young. Her family flew to the most remote landscapes of the world, and this is where she developed an appreciation of the earth’s wonders.
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| Greenland #63 by Zaria Forman |
In her work, Forman has explored the landscapes of Maldives, Greenland, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, and Maine. Her trip to Greenland was originally her mother’s idea but she did not live to see it through. Instead, Forman promised to carry out her mother’s final journey, scattering her ashes in the melting ice. The trip started out as a documentation of climate change with the concept of saying goodbye on a global scale, but it ended up becoming a personal trip as well.
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| Greenland #54 by Zaria Forman |
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to visit such places and enjoy the challenge of conveying their beauty. Perhaps if people can experience these sublime landscapes, they will be inspired to protect and preserve them,” Forman says on her website.
Similar to her work in Greenland, Forman also investigates climate change in Maldives. Her interest in the polar melt (the cause of rising seas) led her to Maldives, the lowest and flattest country in the world. There, she created a body of work to celebrate and represent a country that could be gone within the century.
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| Maldives #2 by Zaria Forman |
A quick look at her work suggests a melancholic state, but Forman suggests a beauty in fleeting moments. Ironically, her success is anything but fleeting. In 2013 alone, she has joined nine group exhibitions in cities spanning from New York to Palm Desert (California), Seattle, and Ghent (Belgium). She’s also had her fair share of solo exhibitions, but currently she is more active in set design, providing original works for Luminous, by the Beijing Contemporary Dance Theatre in Beijing, China, and Giselle, by the The Grand Theatre of Geneva in Switzerland, where she created site-specific work for the production. Last year, 10 of her works were featured on the Netflix series House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.
Like any other girl, Forman has many passions. Besides painting the natural world, she is also passionate about her friends, her family, and of course, bacon.
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| Greenland #57 by Zaria Forman |
Forman is influenced by the natural world, and considers her mother, landscape photographer Rena Bass Forman, to be one of the biggest influences in my life, even after she passed away in 2011. She also considers William Bradford, Robert Longo, and Clifford Ross to be some of the many other artists who inspire her.
Read on as Zaria Forman discusses her love of painting, her hobbies, and what she imagines doing instead of painting.
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Parallel Planets: When/How did your inclination with drawing begin?
Zaria Forman: "My mother was an artist, and we always had art supplies around the house. I have been drawing and painting ever since I could hold a stick of charcoal or a paintbrush. I loved drawing landscapes, and portraits of all my friends in grade school. The inspiration for the drawings I now make began in my early childhood when I traveled with my family throughout several of the worlds most remote landscapes, which became the subject of my mother's fine art photography. I developed an appreciation for the beauty and vastness of the ever-changing sky and sea. I loved watching a far-off storm on the western desert plains; the monsoon rains of southern India; and the cold arctic light illuminating Greenland's waters."
Parallel Planets: What defines your artistic style? What are your “trademarks”?
I wouldn't say that anything in particular defines my style - it is a constant learning process, with each new day, and each new composition. In my work I explore moments of transition, turbulence and tranquility in the landscape and their impact on the viewer- this is infused in all my work but I wouldn't call it a trademark.
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| Maldives #3 by Zaria Forman |
Parallel Planets: Most of your drawings are of the sea, which you call a metaphor for life. However, most of your works are desolate, almost sad. Do these scenes reflect how you feel about life?
Zaria Forman: "Yes, my water compositions do reflect how I feel about life, but I don't interpret the drawings as desolate or sad (although I don't think it's wrong to interpret them that way - each viewer will have their own response to the work). I see them as a fleeting moment amidst constant movement and change. The only thing that exists is the here and now. We move through life as a series of moments, and can never expect what will come next. I find this exciting rather than sad."
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| Maldives #6 by Zaria Forman |
Parallel Planets: Ten of your works have been featured on the show House of Cards. What was the selection process like?
Zaria Forman: "In the Netflix series, the character Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) owns a water organization. The set designer was interested in water compositions to adorn the walls of her office and conference rooms. Out of a series that I offered, the production chose five images. Claire and her husband Francis (played by Kevin Spacey) are interested in contemporary art. Five images from my Giselle series were chosen to hang in their townhouse. I actually haven't found them there yet, and am hoping they will get some coverage in the second season - if anyone sees them, please send me a screenshot!"
Parallel Planets: Aside from drawing, what other creative pursuits are you interested in? Tell us more about the other side of Zaria Forman.
Zaria Forman: "I practice and teach yoga. I most enjoy teaching flow-based classes, focusing on building strength and awareness to achieve graceful fluidity. This translates directly to and from my drawings, one passion fueling the other. Yoga is a very creative process for me. I enjoy thinking up new poses and unconventional transitions.
I make jewelry occasionally. I dabbled in jewelry and metal studies in college, and sold my pieces in small, local boutique shops for a few years, but now it is just a hobby."
Parallel Planets: Do you have any weird habits? Strange desires? Unlikely fetishes? Surprise us.
Zaria Forman: "I can articulate words very well with a full mouth of water - it's a strange talent, but also a habit as I sometimes don't even notice when I'm doing it. During the cold winter months I have a habit of not leaving my apartment/studio for a few days in a row when I am in the drawing zone. I eat raw kale everyday."
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| Maldives #1 by Zaria Forman |
Parallel Planets: What project(s) are you currently working on?
Zaria Forman: "I am working towards my next solo show that opens June 10th in Seattle, WA, at Winston Wachter Fine Art. It will feature the Greenland and Maldives work, and draw the connection to the melting ice, rising seas, and drowning island nations. I have also been forming a collective with two other artists that came to Greenland and the Maldives with me, Lisa Lebofsky and Drew Denny. Our project, titled Ice to Islands continues to evolve and take shape through drawings, paintings, film, performance, and education. Future exhibition plans involve a group showing of our work, as well as other artists’ work pertaining to the subject of climate change, specifically ice melt and sea level rise. Media will include large-scale pastel drawings, oil paintings on aluminum, photography, ice sculpture, film, and multimedia installation. Along with exhibits there will be educational and performance based events, including panel discussions with climate change scientists, activists, and artists.
I very much want to visit Antarctica to compare the poles and draw the southern ice, but nothing is set in stone."
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| Maldives #4 by Zaria Forman |
Parallel Planets: In an alternate universe where drawing does not exist—
What would your name be?
"I would keep Zaria as my first name, and maybe add "the princess from planet Zeus," a name my french horn teacher from high school used to call me."
What would you be doing instead?
"I would be the lead singer in an indie rock band. I love music, and I love singing."
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