Chilean artist Francisca Ahlers wants to transport you to a different time and place: the romance of time gone by seeps into her pieces and infuses them with an alluring nature.

It’s easy to get lost in the detail of her works, which often depict vast rooms or spaces brimming with the decorative – rich patterns, textures and objects. It is not unusual to spy a peacock or a cat, chandeliers, expensive porcelain and extravagant rugs amongst luxuriant wallpaper and lavishly tiled floors.

Ahlers uses the medium of charcoal, and, in some works, acrylic. The contrast of mediums and of colour with darkness only serves to heighten the ethereal quality that’s present. It is as if they are slowly fading into nothing, into the past. 

Remnants of the masters are prevalent within her spaces; Picasso and Vermeers, and also the whimsical illustrations of Quentin Blake, Ludwig Bemelmans and Lauren Child. But though inspiration is pulled from many corners, Ahlers works are, on the whole, something completely different. They are original and new, and refreshing to the eye.