Astrid Korntheuer

How remarkably Astrid Korntheuer (D, 1979) can handle colour in her photographic works, skilfully using them for her compositions, can be discerned in the picture series "Patagonien" and "Glör". The latter consists of nature shots that seek to lure the viewers into a seemingly untouched nature, leading them to believe in a harmless fairy-tale world. But during the "twilight hour", as the artist explains, "the landscape, which was beautiful and friendly before, becomes threatening." Behind the idyllic, magically condensed atmosphere lurks the oppressive melancholy of the inevitable: The vegetation of the empty dam only existed temporarily, it has long been devoured by large amounts of water. What remains is a fairy-tale, romantic memory of a landscape that for a while exalts in a desire for originality and a feeling of longing within an artificiality created by humans.

The picture series, "Loh" (2005/ 06), on the other hand, consists of black-and-white photographs. "Loh" is the name of a town in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since it is hardly known, it could be nowhere and everywhere. The anonymity of the title thus deliberately corresponds with the sketchiness of the picture motifs, which, not least due to the fact that they depict details, are characterized by something unspecific, unlocatable, deliberately leaving the viewer behind with something general, the picture as such.

In terms of content, these are at first glance picturesque reproductions of landscapes. But the idyll turns out to be deceptive: Digital post-processing turns the forest shots into an artificial construction. Hence, the emphasis on the two-dimensionality of the landscape spaces refers to a crucial characteristic of photography: the two-dimensional surface. Twigs and branches form an impermeable wall. Paths to paradise cannot be treaded, they do not exist.

Astrid Korntheuer, Painting 106, 2005/06, 97cm x 119,5cm

Curriculum vitae

Astrid Korntheuer, Waldinterieurs, Cerro Castillo 1, 2004/05, 80cm x 100cm

Astrid Korntheuer, Glör 10, 2003/04, 110cm x 137,5cm

exhibitions, festivals (selection)

solo exhibitions

group exhibitions

awards and grants