Clara Fortis
- Editor at Titan Contemporary Publishing
- Dec 7
- 3 min read
Clara Fortis is an installation artist and experimental sculptor who has exhibited in major cities including Paris and New York as well as in Switzerland. Notable exhibitions include Galerie Au Roi, Vie Projects, Gallery 45, and Gallery D in Paris, Thompson Gallery in Zug, Switzerland, and 25 East Gallery in New York. She has been published by Dépaysants magazine, Dawn newspaper, Merde Magazine, and The New School. Clara has also participated in a residency at Ateliers Sculpture Paris-Montreuil.
Macabre and based in social isolation as well as psychology, Clara Fortis constructs elaborate steel installations and sculptures which may seem reminiscent of medieval torture devices or the disfigured medical apparatuses of a mad scientist. Each three-dimensional piece is heavily conceptually-based and draws on narratives from specific historical contexts, reflecting specific psychological impulses, or merging several forms into one entity. The conceptual installations derive from extensive research by the artist, as she collects and archives texts, references, and observations. A central tenant and theme within the works revolves around the human desire to be heard. These steel devices are also performative as many of them are meant to be worn in order to ‘disfigure the figure’ or act as an extension of emotional impulse, such as sorrow, entrapment, and solitude.
The steel constructs often mold and force the wearer of the installation into a position of great discomfort or to convey a specific social notion. For example, The Posture of Hearing forms the positioning of the figure to cup their hands behind their ears to hear better. The piece conveys the frustration of being unable to be heard, as the artist portrays a concept of no one truly being fully understood in their own capacity. This yearning for communication and desire for social completion becomes further understood in other steel installations as well such as The Anatomy of Screaming. The piece exemplifies the act of violence in the form of accentuating the physical components of a scream. Each tier of the represented vocal cords are conveyed to provoke the form and motion coming from a shriek of terror. The autobiographical narrative in Clara Fortis’ work can be found in a piece such as A Chronic Craving for Catharsis which conveys the artist’s experiences with chronic tinnitus, a hearing disorder. Assembled much like a torture device or apparatus of daggers, the work exemplifies the agony of “phantom noises”, as she describes. These metallic constructs thoroughly investigate the human condition and expressions into machinations of destruction and convolution, in turn producing additional circumstances which have us ponder upon the purpose and value of various forms of communication. As a result, these steel installations are a conduit to symbolic gestures beyond human interactions and reach for celestial beings and even the gods, such as in the case of I Wish You Hadn’t Said That which references ancient use of amulets of ears to invoke the favor of deities.
Muscle Memory (pictured above) is one of Clara Fortis’ most macabre pieces. The steel installation transforms into a costume, or more specifically into a head-cage to ensnare a victim. Assembled into a form much like a midieval torture device, the artwork combines the structure of human teeth with the construct of a bear trap. The fusion of the two entities creates a synthesis of deformity and entrapment. Perhaps a shivering of the remote isles within one’s mind.
Highly conceptual and deeply provocative, the steel installations and experimental sculptures of Clara Fortis reveal intricacies within the destructive qualities and yearnings of the mind. The lack of or cutting off of communication leads to consequences, as these works seemingly convey in a disturbingly poignant and relevant fashion. As an artist, Clara Fortis disassembles the enigma of human psychology and poses questions as well as answers pertaining to the depths of human desire. In the spirit of and paraphrasing Joan Osborne, upon studying these steel constructs, we may ask others what if they were one of us. Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make their way home. Our fragility and imperfections is what makes the human spirit so sacred and the works of Clara Fortis suggest to us to listen. Beyond the surface and initial impressions, these psychological works hold layers of comprehension of what drives a sense of purpose in humanity besides our basic impulses and instincts. Our interconnectivity through great art, such as through the works of Clara Fortis clear a path towards building bridges of understanding towards one another.
photo credit: Demir Ramazanov, Zara Nneka, Kyrie Rogers, Emil Hernon