Scar

_{Canvas intervened with tree bark and plaster, variable size}
^{Hamburg, 2023.}

_{In Scar, textured fragments of bark and fungi set upon a canvas underlie a plaster coating. At certain points, these fragments emerge from underneath the opaque veneer of the plaster, their organic materiality a stark contrast to the white pigment of the overlay and rectilinear framework of the canvas.

This piece, for the artist, probes a difficult question: “How, within my existence and limited capacities, comparable in duration to the blink of an eye in relation to the existence of the planet, can I connect my work in communion with nature? Is the science of ecology, in essence, not a humanized view of nature? Can art, in any case, provide answers?” A kind of tense negotiation between collected organic matter and human derived substances and framing contexts is ongoing in Scar.

Placed low to the ground, the viewer encounters this work more like a palimpsestic fragment of an interface between art and nature rather than a completed painting that can be easily perceived and consumed by the human gaze.}

^{Photos: Janna R. Wieland &}^{courtesy of the artist.}