Abstract
Gregory Forstner reminds us that while he works on his family's Nazi history and reflects on the place of Black Americans in his adopted homeland, the USA, or lets the seductive, kitschy figures of "Pulp" magazines play the protagonists in his compositions, he paints his themes with the amplitude of a playful gesture, transforming pathos into grotesque, absurd comedy. He insists on approaching his paintings with candor and humor, and sees his work as a true celebration of the representation of the figure, based on all its expressions and the contradictory emotions that accompany it. The subject is in charge. In other words, "if he asks me to be meticulous, I bring out the make-up bag; if he demands the immediacy of a sensation, I bring out the heavy artillery; if he asks me not to forget to laugh and to know how to have fun before I croak, I laugh at myself". He insists that what's at stake is sensation, and that it's in this intimacy that the uniqueness of each individual lies. Painting is born of necessity and desire. Like the desire to live.
