Jochen Klein

Current Projects
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Untitled 1 (2007)
40cm x 50cm C-print

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Jochen Klein

Artist’s statement

Within my practice I am engaged with the perception of places and the possibility of an authentic relationship with nature.
Landscape in represented forms often replaces a direct contact with nature and stands in as a substitute or second hand experience;
within the pictorial space of the image, elements of control – composition, harmony, balance - can be established, which in reality might
be questioned as illusionary. However, the natural landscape still offers and holds a relief for the senses, or even transcendental possibilities.
My work is located in this controversial terrain, allowing space for questions, as well as for contemplation.

Drawing inspiration from painting and drawing of the 19th century, to 20th century photography, I am tracing romantic elements
in landscape imagery and use them as a starting point for my personal approach to picture making. I am interested in the metaphorical
and philosophical questions and contradictions within the genre and want to rethink them against the backdrop of contemporary art practice.
The advent of the landscape genre in the 19th century goes hand in hand with increasing endeavours at the time to order, colonize and exploit
nature, to bend it under man’s regime. Landscape depictions, as a consequence, might be seen as an attempt to understand and harmonize,
to control nature; but also to handle feelings of loss – with the contradictorily effect, as W.G. Sebald points out, that the depiction of
natural beauty not only is an effort to rescue nature - it also marks the first step to her extinction.

The photographs are constructed in the studio and made up from everyday materials. Photography allows me to depict things
in a naturalistic manner, while simultaneously I am able to create an illusion. Craft and hand making play important roles in my working
process, as do chance and intuition. Using techniques of Bricolage, my practice is a reflection on the status of the artwork and the process
of art production. Art, says Claude Lévi Strauss ´ lies half-way between scientific knowledge and mythical or magical thought`.
Embracing this notion, I am hoping to construct a useful and beautiful object, which is also an object of knowledge.

Jochen Klein, 2010