Art
Beate Gutschow monograph
November 2007: in review
Beate Gutschow explores the opposing juxtapositions of pastoral idealism and urban decay in her new volume of images entitled 'Beate Gutschow: LS/S'. Her images, which upon first glance could be mistaken as real, are in fact meticulously staged montages that have been digitally mastered by the German artist.
Click here to see our favourite pictures from the monograph
A rising star within the contemporary art circuit, Gutschow has taken a wealth of analog images around the world, which she then converts to digital and stores according to their location. Each work is a composition created from the layering of between 30 to 100 pieces, taken from her extensive catalogue and arranged into a panorama.
In her first body of work entitled 'LS', Gutschow creates scenes of pastoral idealism inspired by the paintings of 17th and 18th century landscape artists such as John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough and Nicholas Poussin.
Through her employment of traditional pastoral techniques, such as framing the scene with trees and creating a sense of spatial depth, Gutschow conveys a sense of Arcadian tranquility. However, upon closer inspection there is often a disruption to the apparently idyllic setting; the artist layers in industrial fabrics, causing an unnerving contrast with the natural surrounds.
In her second body of images 'S', Gutschow moves from the seemingly idyllic to post-apocalyptical scenes of urbanity. Her shift to black and white photography signifies the transition to a bleak world-view, and a look into what the future may have in store. Although the interface between the combined images is flawless, there is often a contradiction within Gutschow’s use of light and shade, giving her work an almost sinister edge.
Although Gutschow’s 'LS' and 'S' series appear as polar opposites in terms of their subject matter, both bodies of work compel the viewer to compare the celebration of nature and subsequent desire for perfection, against the contrasting scenes of urban decay and desolation.
