On the occasion of his current solo exhibition, “SHIFTY” at Uffner & Liu, we sat down in conversation with Christian Franzen to talk about the exhibition, his process, and symbols of deception.
Franzen has long drawn from a vast personal photo archive. In earlier bodies of work, photographs functioned as points of departure, anchoring his radiant seascapes in lived geography. The paintings in “SHIFTY”, however, are made without direct reliance on photographic references. Instead, they are rendered from memory—of specific landscapes, events, sensations, and even of earlier paintings themselves—allowing perception and recollection to become primary compositional tools. What remains are impressions: a horizon suspended in atmospheric haze, a flare of sunset dissolving into oceanic darkness, a band of reflected light fractured across water. These remembered landscapes appear in moments of transition, where clarity yields to constant motion.
Christian Franzen, “SHIFTY” is on view at Uffner & Liu through May 9, 2026.
@fran_van #christianfranzen #uffnerliu
artist portrait by @romankoval
Uffner & Liu is pleased to announce “SHIFTY”, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles–based artist Christian Franzen opening on Thursday, March 12. Working primarily from scenes of the Southern California coastline where he grew up, Franzen creates luminous, atmospheric paintings that are seeped in the psychological charge of place. Through layered glazing, airbrush, and deliberate surface abrasion, Franzen constructs paintings that feel both cinematic and weathered, as though glimpsed through salt-streaked glass or recalled from a half-remembered dream.
Franzen has long drawn from a vast personal photo archive. In earlier bodies of work, photographs functioned as points of departure, anchoring his radiant seascapes in lived geography. The paintings in “SHIFTY”, however, are made without direct reliance on photographic references. Instead, they are rendered from memory—of specific landscapes, events, sensations, and even of earlier paintings themselves—allowing perception and recollection to become primary compositional tools. What remains are impressions: a horizon suspended in atmospheric haze, a flare of sunset dissolving into oceanic darkness, a band of reflected light fractured across water. These remembered landscapes appear in moments of transition, where clarity yields to constant motion.
Christian Franzen, “SHIFTY”, Uffner & Liu, New York, NY, March 12 – May 9, 2026.
Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday, March 12, 6–8pm.
For more information or to continue reading, please visit our website at the link in bio.
Image: Christian Franzen, “Like the End of a Beautiful Play”, 2024, acrylic on linen, 50 x 40 x 1 1/2 in (127 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm)
This painting is included in “Slight Return”
currently up at @inlieugallery until Dec 16th
Thank you everyone who has made it by to see the show this far
River Song, 2023
Acrylic on Linen
40”x32”x1.5”
