With a passion for magical realist style, Forrer depicts scenes of mythological horror that are slyly imbued with the banality of modern life. Naïve figures are rendered in outlandish colorations. Abutted by monstrous spirits, impish creatures vacillate between responses of saccharine smiles and grimacing sneers.
This exhibition takes the form of a dream-like narrative, serving to emphasize the artist's uncanny ability as a visual raconteur. The story begins with Forrer's monumental tapestry Woman (with eyes open). The object stands in stark contrast with the other kaleidoscopic works on view, instead revealing a supine female figure who emerges through subtle shadings of ecru. The woman's body is severed by the division of the work into four separate panels, adding to the violence of the scene. Her expression is one of vacant horror — she is caught in a fugue state, a living nightmare.
In descending the elongated gallery space, the viewer bears witness to episodic action from the woman's reveries. These scenes include a vision of a girl whose mouth has been replaced with the tortuous body of a serpent in Untitled with Snake. Another standout work, Feet of the Devil, tells the story of three wicked children playing jump rope, set against variegated washes of colored thread. The delirious scene is bookended by a disgruntled crone and mirthful acid-green ogre. The women's heads float across the edges of the horizontal plane, lying in wait for their moment of attack. In depicting her horror-laden narratives through the obdurate medium of tapestry, the tension of weaving serves to act as an allegory for the suppressed fury that simmers beneath the surface of human propriety.
