Vacheron Constantin Has Announced Zaria Forman as the New Face of the Overseas Collection

Through her majestic and grandiose pastel works based on some of the world's most remote places, American artist Zaria Forman testifies to the impact of changing landscapes. A committed and uncompromising explorer, she has become the new face of Vacheron Constantin's "One of Not Many" campaign and embodies the Overseas collection alongside Cory Richards.

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 recognised 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.

"The quest for excellence and a taste for adventure, passion and innovation, elegance and tradition, art and culture in all their forms have characterised the spirit of our Maison since its founding in 1755. This visionary, sensitive and demanding outlook is reflected in Zaria Forman's artistic approach and territory of expression. She is a socially committed artist keenly aware that art conveys emotions and eager to share Beauty with the public”, said Louis Ferla, CEO 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."

An artist open to the world

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.