This time, Vacheron Constantin brings in Zaria Forman, a committed American artist, explorer, and witness to changing landscapes, creating majestic pastel works based on some of the world's most remote places. Through her spirit of discovery and openness to the world, she embodies the Overseas collection alongside Cory Richards, Benjamin Clementine, Ora Ito, and Yiqing Yin.
Vacheron Constantin decided to manifest their singular spirit by working with other talents whose character and creations rise from a never-ending quest for excellence, global diversity, and a sense of innovation and artistry. These visionaries and devotees are renowned originators in their own fields. They, too, embody the "One of Not many" concept in the communication campaigns.
On Zaria Forman’s wrist, we can see a new Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding in stainless steel with a 34.5 mm case equipped with a bezel set with 90 diamonds, for a total weight of approximately 0.86 carats —guaranteed minimum carats. This new reference 1205V is powered by the in-house calibre 1088/1 with a 40-hour power reserve. This watch comes with an integrated bracelet in stainless steel and a rubber strap matching the color of the dial.
Since 2018, the "One of Not Many" campaign has brought together personalities whose way of being in the world reflects the values dear to Vacheron Constantin. Values that have made Vacheron Constantin a recognized and respected brand within the exclusive circle of Haute Horlogerie connoisseurs. Alongside musician Benjamin Clementine, designer Ora Ito, photographer and explorer Cory Richards, and Haute Couture designer Yiqing Yin, artist Zaria Forman now joins the Maison’s circle of talents becoming the new face of the Overseas collection, for which the advertising campaign was produced in Iceland.
"Vacheron Constantin focuses on producing a limited number of pieces. It is the only way to provide the highest levels of quality, design and craftsmanship. Our Maison strives to uphold a singular and refined standing in an industry that is already extremely selective. In that respect, we are undeniably One of not many." —Louis Ferla - CEO of Vacheron Constantin
Zaria Forman is a committed American artist, explorer, and witness to changing landscapes, whose spirit of discovery and openness to the world personifies the Overseas collection. A one-of-a-kind artwork, Fellsfjara, Iceland no.3, was created for Vacheron Constantin following the campaign shoot.
During the shoot, Zaria Forman once again collected her own images and memories, constituting the raw material for a series of drawings, video work, and sculpture, entitled Fellsfjara, Iceland, of which work no. 3 was created for Vacheron Constantin.
As Zaria Forman points out: “I knew nothing about High Watchmaking and discovered this incredible world through Vacheron Constantin’s lens. I was amazed by the craftspeople who ply their trade within the Manufacture, by their passion and vocation, and, above all, their handcrafted work, which reminds me of my own: modelling with my fingertips; enjoying a tactile and sensual relationship with matter in a process of creation and transmission; making a personal imprint on time and giving it a voice. The landscapes I love and depict in my work illustrate the passage of time, and its impact on the world and on humankind."
Born in 1982 in the state of Massachussets, Zaria Forman is based in New York, yet her art is rooted in the most remote regions of the globe. With her camera slung over her shoulder, she has been travelling the planet for over 15 years documenting changing landscapes by collecting images and memories that she then reproduces in pastel on large-format paper, exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. During her expeditions, Zaria Forman takes thousands of photos and videos of these landscapes in transition. Back in her New York studio, she then combines these images with the memory of her experience on the ground to create strikingly beautiful large-scale compositions.
The intricate details of a snow dusted glacier, the blue-tinged reflections of ice in water, and foam-crested waves are all elements that the artist renders by smudging soft pastel pigments on paper, without tools, using only her fingertips or the palm of her hand. A meditative approach giving life to sensitive works that are realistic in every sense of the word.
Zaria Forman’s work is shown in museums and galleries around the world. Among her major exhibitions, the artist took part in Banksy's Dismaland, a gloomy funfair about the decadent excesses of our society. She was an artist-in-residence aboard the National Geographic Explorer in Antarctica and was responsible for the very first permanent exhibitions of polar art on Lindblad Expedition’s National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution ships.
A socially committed artist, Zaria Forman is also an uncompromising explorer. Starting in 2016, she has flown several times with NASA’s Operation IceBridge, airborne scientific missions over Antarctica, Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, which have helped to map changes in earth’s ice over the last decade. Zaria Forman has drawn unique material from these various flights over both poles to create majestic works depicting the beauty and fragility of our planet.
On the occasion of this shoot, you drew material for a new series of unique works of art —Fellsfjara, Iceland— one of which is destined for Vacheron Constantin.
What was your approach?
My goal as an artist is to give viewers an experience of remote places they might not have the chance to visit. I believe that feeling awe for a place leads to a desire to protect it. But after experiencing that emotional surge, how, as artists, can we inspire commitment? I draw calving glaciers in frigid bays and the eroding beaches of fragile coastlines. I am one of many artists whose work is fuelled by a fascination with polar regions. I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the details of melting ice and how they may help us understand how glaciers form, shift, melt, and affect us all. The ice at Fellsfjara, Iceland, which I visited in September 2021, tells the story of the past and our future.
I was captivated by a phenomenon I saw there, through the ice. Chunks of recently calved, compressed glacier ice were washed up onto a black sand beach. White-capped waves splashed against the shoreline, and when viewed through the ice, the white ocean foam transformed into a light dance, distorted by the ice. The light moved through frozen layers, and around air bubbles perhaps ancient ones, that were locked inside when the ice was first formed. I’ve made sound recordings of these bubbles popping open as glacial ice melts and releases them, and the familiar, satisfying crackle no doubt played a part in mesmerizing me in Fellsfjara, Iceland. This new body of work, including the drawing for Vacheron Constantin, will explore this phenomenon in great detail, magnifying textures and surfaces in the ice that I have never before attempted in my work. It is an up close and personal view of melting glacier ice.
