Marianne Lang | we are nature
25th May to 29th June 2022
Marianne Lang's central medium is drawing - in the broadest sense - she experiments with different techniques, materials and perspectives. From the „classic“ pencil drawing to engraving on glass and drawing with a soldering iron, she finds a wide variety of approaches. What is special about Lang's drawings is the way the technique is matched to the motif - fire drawings meet moths, as well as silverpoint on black canvas and plants that only show their full splendor at night. The central theme is nature. Whereby it is not about pure nature observation and representation of natural phenomena, but about the space between nature and human beings. How we live in nature, how we deal and coexist with it.
"The house in the green" - many people associate these words with a deep desire for a place of peace and relaxation, an oasis, untouched and secluded, where you can unwind and escape from everyday life. Marianne Lang has turned this into a series of works in which the tension between human being and nature is addressed. The series shows buildings and interiors that are not carried by walls and windows or inhabited by furniture and decor in the classic way, but whose outlines are represented by vegetation. The motifs are real existing houses and interiors, some of which are adapted and expanded by the artist.
The concept of space underlies the series and Lang's art in general. Using the example of the House in the open, Lang shows interior and exterior spaces that are only enlivened by objects and people. The question arises as to what role nature has in these spaces. Is it an integral part of our living spaces? And if so, under what conditions? Many have the desire to be in nature, to experience and also to protect it. But which spaces can actually still be called “natural”? Maybe we live in a man-made "nature" after all?
A similar approach to the infiltration and merging of outside and inside, private and public, as well as nature and people can be found in the Double Sights series. In doing so, Lang superimposes two motifs, reminiscent of the photographic technique of double exposure. The decisive factor is that the motifs are a landscape and an interior. At first glance, the works invite you to dream about a table by the lake side or a sofa in the park. But in our fast-moving world, in which the boundaries between online and offline, private and professional are thinner than ever before, a closer look may also give rise to the desire for a separation of these living spaces.
We are nature - the exhibition should raise the awareness of visitors to their relationship with nature and their habitats. And maybe some will ask themselves afterwards: Are we nature?
Text: Selin Stütz
