by Sabine Maria Schmidt (art historian, curator) catalogue text, Ralf Brueck, Synthese 2019
"Synthese" (Synthesis), is a virtuoso and imaginative work that presents views of cultural landscapes based on the irritating sublimity of visual artificiality and mutability.
Almost everyone has photographed one or the other motif: Californian palm groves, cultivated succulent beds in holiday resorts, stalactite caves, forest paths and treetops, dragon trees in the botanical garden, cherry blossoms and undulating grain fields. But what seems familiar receives an alchemical transformation in Brueck's photographs. With an unusual eye for details and views, with few interventions and a daring palette of colors, Brueck develops unseen imaginary worlds of landscapes in the digital age and merges them with a broad repertoire of traditional pop culture.