Dirk Haupt “Frost”, “Schutthalde 1”, “Schwarzwald 2”

Shedhalle / Exhibitions / Lands End / Artists

Dirk Haupt, Germany: “Frost 2”, oil/ stencil/spray on wood, 240 x 132 cm, 2008

Dirk Haupt’s pictures tell of something deeply melancholic and strange. We see landscapes, atmospheric pictures, on the one hand drafted and elaborated with mathematical accuracy, that seem to get lost in the enigmatic and unfinished in some indeterminate way.

“Black Forest 1” e.g. shows trees and bushes with leaves looking like ornaments in artificial-life-programmes; but at the same time, the picture shows bare tree trunks and unfinished branches, without lush green or dense foliage: a black forest the idyll and perfection of which frays at its fringes, a forest reminding us of an accumulation of fish bones or skeletons. A peculiar silence, sadness, and beauty rule the atmosphere of these pictures. In a subdued and poetic way they are not only tales of dying woods and lakes but get these effects in line with this age-old story: nature and life have been reduced to mere numbers and sheer facts. What remains are still white spots, awaiting their elaboration.