Forest 1
Ink on paper, 147 x 101 cm, 2019

 

 

In 2018 and 2019, the Austrian forests Waldviertel and Mühlviertel suffered serious damage due to extreme climate changes. After unusual amounts of snow, these forests experienced a long period of dryness and warm temperatures that facilitated the breeding of the bark beetle. As a consequence, large amounts of wood had to be taken from the forest areas which transformed visually the landscape.

 

As Gregor explains, “the normally vertical orientation of the forest merged into a linear and light jumble of standing trees, lying but not yet processed damaged wood, clear-cut logs, young trees and bushes.” The need the artist felt to register these changes in such raw and physical gestures – big brush and dark ink against the fragility of paper – reveals this close relationship we have to what surrounds us. An emotional, familiar, collective connection to the sceneries of our memories.