28 february 2023, Flor Linckens
The synthetic landscapes of Jeppe Lauge
Until 11 March, Galerie Bart in Amsterdam presents an exhibition by Jeppe Lauge, who gives shape to the classical genre of landscape painting in a unique way. The Danish artist is fascinated by cultivated landscapes and landscapes that have been 'rewilded'. His practice is marked by a certain duality.
Lauge photographs the landscape and subsequently manipulates the images on his computer, a metaphor for the ways in which humans manipulate nature. At the same time, it says something about how we increasingly experience the world around us: digitally, via a screen. From his original photos, Lauge creates a fragmented and layered digital collage with geometric elements. He then picks up his brush and paints a complex oil painting from that digital image. These paintings evoke a certain recognition and alienation at the same time, especially after you take a second look at the composite image and notice that certain elements are not quite right. The depicted nature has a realistic element, but also a certain degree of abstraction.
We're not looking at a pristine or idealized landscape here, but rather we're considering the ways in which people influence and shape their environment. Yet those same people are structurally absent from his work. With his work, Lauge questions our own place in nature and the ways in which we perceive and treat nature.
Lauge: “When I see a landscape, I see a complex picture, a shaped space to which we added layers over time. In my work I’m always searching for ways to excavate the layers in order to know how to relate to it.”
At the same time, the fragmented image refers to how we perceive the world ourselves: never in a single overview, but in the form of details that are partly supplemented by our brain and our own background. Lauge plays with this notion by making certain elements in the frame sharper or lighter and by painting other parts more impressionistic, sketch-like or pixellated. Lauge systematically applies several layers of paint, creating a rough structure. The artist is known for his expressive and often large-scale works, but in the exhibition in Galerie Bart you can also see a series of smaller works by his hand.
Lauge studied at the Århus kunstskole and the Ærø kunsthøjskole in Denmark, followed by an education at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where he lived for eleven years. The artist currently lives and works in Denmark.
'REWIND' by Jeppe Lauge will be on display at Galerie Bart in Amsterdam until 11 March. At the same time, the exhibition 'Bear with me' by Tamara Muller will also be on display.
