THOMAS FLECHTNER – FOR EVERGREEN
Zurich – From May until June 2017
FOR EVERGREEN is a rich tribute to the universe of plants using the means available with analogue photography. It is the first time artist Thomas Flechtner has exhibited works from different cycles. The contrasts between them provide us with a tension-filled insight into his examination of Nature.
What connects the works? The fleeting nature of the moment. The mystery of the transient. The discovery of the insignificant.
Thomas Flechtner`s latest work, «Leaves» (2017), is a series of large-scale, individual leaves that ask certain questions of us: Where does life, in all its fascinating fragility, begin? And where does it end? The work «Grasses» (2016), on the other hand, focuses primarily on the foreground, the background and the underground of vegetable life. What is vital; what is lethal? On a superficial level, Flechtner`s grasses appear burned and parched by heat, sun and drought. On closer examination, however, we notice signs of a hidden vitality. And below ground, of course, awaits the possibility of a renewed eruption. The work «Flowers» plays with the lack of definition and the intensity of colors. «Bulbs» (2013), a preoccupation with the humble potato, plays – and irritates us – with the concepts of values and proportions. Why can a potato not be a planet? «Bulbs» and «Germs» (2010) are both invitations to the microcosm. They are an offer to direct our eyes to the wayside a nd to focus on the apparently trivial and familiar. – Because FOR EVERGREEN will outlive us.
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