Landscapists
These pieces borrow in part from 19th-century German Romantic landscape painting. Drawn to the draftsmanship and use of line by artists like Caspar David Friedrich and Johann Georg von Dillis, I reinvent these artists’ pristine depictions of nature, combining them with symbolic markers of the modern-day landscape that are both physical and conceptual. The resulting compositions invite viewers to consider questions of permanence and fluidity in our dynamic relationships with nature.
The construction cranes in this body of work act like trees in the Romantic landscape, signifying power. But unlike Friedrich’s massive oaks, which convey spiritual strength, the strength of cranes is tied to the economic potential of an industrialized world and its dominance over the natural. Yet when isolated in bucolic landscapes devoid of people, these dominant/subservient roles become less clear.
