Montello
2012
Thirteen black-and-white prints in various formats
Five reliefs made of oak wood and one of terracotta
380 cm x 210 cm x 20 cm
Mountain
Sculpture from linden wood painted with chalk ground
85 cm x 55 cm 40 cm high
Augsburg, H2 Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst im Glaspalast, 2012
Hamburg, Galerie Osterwalder, 2015
Neuenkirchen near Soltau, Kunstverein Springhornhof, 2025
The work consists of black-and-white photographs of a high mountain landscape in the Italian Alps, incorporated in various formats within a frame construction. The images are complemented by four carved wooden reliefs and the fragment of a head.
The work is inspired by the poems of Italian author Andrea Zanzotto (*Pieve di Soligo 1921 – †2011 Treviso), in particular, by his poetry cycles “Dietro il paessagio” and “Il Galateo in bosco”.
After German troops had occupied Pieve di Soligo, Zanzotto joined the resistance, following the example of his father who had been an anti-fascist fighter and partisan from the outset. The scenes of pillaging and devastation of his native village that he witnessed from his hiding place in the months that followed, had a lasting impact on his life and work. These traumatic events contributed to the mental crises he suffered throughout the rest of his life and led to the poet’s interest in psychoanalysis and analytical treatment.
The landscape portrayals in photography and language evoke a sense of uncanniness. One aim is to emphasize their surreal dimension and abstract enrichment, which point to the reciprocal relationship between the self and the landscape.