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16/1/2015

Darren Almond / Carl Blechen

Galerie Max Hetzler - Bleisstreustrasse, Berlin

We are pleased to present the exhibition Landscapes with works by Darren Almond and Carl Blechen at Bleibtreustraße 45. The exhibition is supported by loans of Carl Blechen from the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

Inspired by the intensity of light and modernity of representation in the works of German landscape painter Carl Blechen, Darren Almond set off to find the sites and landscapes which Blechen portrayed in the beginning of the 19th century. Blechen is considered one of the major exponents of German romanticism and noted pioneer of later artistic movements, such as impressionism. During only fifteen years of artistic work he created an impressive oeuvre of paintings, watercolours and drawings.

From September 1828 until October 1829 Blechen travelled across the Alps to Italy and visited Verona, Florence, Rome, Naples and Amalfi among others. The trip is regarded as an important milestone within his artistic practice. During his travels, he created the so-called Amalfi Sketchbook which initiated Darren Almond’s intense occupation with the artist's work. Blechen’s use of light and shadow creates a tension that captures the spectator immediately. The vivid shift of bright and dark parts – especially apparent in the sepia drawings – forms an unique dynamic. Playing with the use and effects of complementary contrasts Blechen generates nearly abstract pictorial spaces.

Following Carl Blechen’s paths, Almond visited Amalfi and the Alps as well as Dresden, Potsdam and Blechen’s birthplace Cottbus. He captured these regions using his typical method: Photographing by night with the full moon as the only source of light. Due to the extensive exposure time the facets of the surrounding suddenly become visible while the moonlight covers everything in a mystical and diffuse light. The Fullmoons deal with the strong correlation of light, space as well as time and visualize these components. Similar to Blechen’s works the passing time becomes predominant. The long exposure alienates the landscape and bears a lyrical atmosphere. The Fullmoons address essential topics of romanticism such as the sublime of nature, transience besides solitude and translate them into a contemporary representation.

The exhibition presents a selection of drawings and oil studies from the Kunstsammlung der Akademie der Künste that offer an insight into Blechen’s extensive body of work and enable a dialogue with Almond’s large-scaled photographs. These depict several images of a glacier tongue in the Alps, mountain chains, forests and valleys. For the first time, Almond produced a series of black and white photographs taken at the mill ruins near Amalfi. They focus solely on the light and task of capturing it. Thus, they create a direct parallel to Blechen’s Amalfi sketches in which he is similarly engaged with the phenomenon of light.

Both artists’ deep concern for the compositional device of the void in romantic landscapes becomes clearly apparent in the exhibited selection of works. Blechen’s works often avoid the display of humans. Some appear like stage settings which seem to lack the presence of actors. Almond’s Fullmoons never include figures either. It is this impression of virginity, tranquillity and emptiness that he tries to make tangible through duration of exposure and composition of the image.

Image: Amalfi Sketchbook I, 2014, bromide print, 150 x 120 cm, edition of 5 plus 2 AP

Press Contact:
presse@maxhetzler.com or (+49) 30 346 497 85-0

Opening: January 17, 2015, 6-8 pm

Galerie Max Hetzler
Bleibtreustraße 45
D-10623 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Tuesday–Saturday 11am–6pm

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