Group Exhibition
The artists in this duo exhibition create work from different disciplines. For both, the richly varied nature and how humans relate to it is a fascinating source of inspiration. After the presentation at Art Rotterdam, Annegret Kellner and Justus de Rode can still be seen in the setting of the gallery for a few more weeks.
The images in the series ‘Views of Nature’ by Justus de Rode (NL 1997) are diffuse. The titles tell many stories, leading back to the notes of the 19th century scientist Alexander von Humboldt. He introduced nature with an appreciation of both the ecological system and aesthetic wonder. Artist De Rode finds his source material in botanical gardens, museums and libraries. He photographs plants, stuffed animals and other natural material. To give the imagination extra meaning, De Rode uses the classic printing technique cyanotype. Processing with tannin provides the brown tones in all the nuances he wants, for an earthy character of the image. In this subtle way De Rode seduces the viewer to relate to nature. Feeling and imagination can still be relevant to understanding the world.
Annegret Kellner (DE 1979) creates artworks based on the plant or tree world. With her works she shows the viewer something of our distorted way of dealing with nature, whose beauty and also survival is being affected. Culture versus nature, that is what Kellner wants to talk about; human intervention versus the evolution of nature. Kellner realizes her works as sculptures, among other things. For example, they are prints of large delicate plant leaves made of white, soft silicone, such as in the series ‘Anaesthesia’. They look like softly moving creatures, but the natural green is lost. She also uses photography as a medium, to fix what is lost. The ‘Deep Doodle’ series makes something visible in the doodles of what we know from 17th-century flower still lifes. Annegret Kellner reflects to us the reciprocity of everything that surrounds us. She does this with a modesty that is no less than visual aesthetics.
Impression
