Florian Maier-Aichen
Friday, 6 November 2009
I believe extra-terrestrial lifeforms are out there, somewhere in the galaxy. They must be. The universe cannot be this lonely. Perhaps they have even visited us? Perhaps they are observing us from afar, paying close attention to our life, monitoring our behaviour and studying our mental capacity. How do they see our world? What do they think of it? What do they think of us? Surely they must have at least marveled at the immense natural beauty our Earth possesses? How “alien” is our landscape to them?
Maier-Aichen’s image compels with an aberrant surrealism through its bizarre perspective and intense hues. In a scene more reminiscent of science fiction invention than natural phenomenon, distant mountains give way to an expansive plateau which suddenly drops off into an engulfing tree covered gorge; a cluster of tiny structures balancing precariously on its edge. Exaggerating the sky’s vivid blue canopy and bathing the vegetation in a mephitic red, Maier-Aichen’s otherworldly terrain manipulates the photographic ‘real’ into a language more indicative of painting, invoking the sublimity of Abstract Expressionism in his boding terrain.
Additional text from Saatchi Gallery.