Fries was a frantic, desperate, and autobiographical stream of consciousness that wrestles with identity and self actualization within the context of the human condition and generalized personal experiences. This interactive ceramic exhibition critically engaged various concepts that have impacted the artist and shaped the ways in which he interacts with and understands the world, including separation anxiety and grief, feelings of insignificance, complex consumeristic desires to possess and collect, platonic love, and the coping mechanisms the artist has used since a very early age to combat loneliness. Central to this exhibition however, was a frank and emotional analysis of masculinity and generational trauma, focusing on relationships with patriarchs and other powerful men, and the abundance of toxic male role models that have infested the artists’ life from upbringing and adulthood. 

This exhibition featured vibrantly colorful ceramic manifestations that employ fantastical, absurd, and bizarre imagery and interactive elements to explore these relationships and big feelings, and within that space the artist both condemns and celebrates, experiments and learns. Through this work, Foerster strives not only to better understand himself, but to provoke and engage the audience, building connections and community with and among them through the sharing of experiences.

Fries was on view at the Box 13 Artspace in Houston, TX from January to February 2025.