Sabine Wenzel
dal 8/11/2007 al 7/12/2007
Segnalato da
8/11/2007
Sabine Wenzel
Galerie Engler, Berlin
The German forest as a structure formed by light. Dematerialised, mysterious and unapproachable. The forest is portrayed as a layer of atmospheric conditions, as an illusion created by pale, flickering light, as metaphor.
The German Forest
The German forest as a structure formed by light. Dematerialised, mysterious and
unapproachable. Sabine's images undermine the viewer's sense of reality. Yes, the
trees and the light of the forest clearings are there, but somehow these are not the
classic forest images that we have internalised from childhood memories.
Here the forest is portrayed as a layer of atmospheric conditions, as an illusion
created by pale, flickering light, as metaphor. Shafts of light come through the
trees in rhythmic tones, bathed in magical light, simultaneously fascinating and
unsettling. Images, where the emphasis is not the individual trees, but the overall
impression of forest itself.
Experimental photography?
Perhaps, yes, but only to a certain extent. What is important here is not how the
images are interpreted, but more the vision itself. The correspondence between
reality and its transcendence to the emotional and unfathomable; which the forest,
the German forest, exemplifies with a proverbial fascination.
The approach to such a visually loaded subject matter, with its break from C.D.
Friedrich's Romanticism is courageous. Equally so, when having gone full circle,
Sabine Wenzel returns to Romanticism; this time around devoid of gnomes and fairies,
but having lost none of its mystery or drama.
In Sabine Wenzel's work the forest is presented as an integrated whole. Her focus is
neither on its impenetrable depths nor on the individual trees. What she is
interested in showing is, in the true sense of the word, a subjectively coloured
idea of forest. Unsuitable for a PR brochure for the woodlands, and not a strategic
gesture to dress itself up as Art, her images are a deeply personal response to her
subject matter.
(Denis Brudna/Photonews 7/8-07)
Sabine Wenzel *1966, studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and majored at
Burg Giebichenstein in Photography.
She lives and works in Berlin.
Opening: Friday, 9 November 7pm
Galerie Engler
Kastanienallee 67 - Berlin
Opening hours: Tue-Sat 1-8pm
Free admission