Nathalia Edenmont

NATURE
07.05.-14.06.2008

The view of nature has always been a means of relaxation and inspiration. But what happens when nature looks back?

As of May 7th 2008 the gallery Terminus presents photo art of the Ukrainian artist Nathalia Edenmont, that “keep an eye” on their viewers and their understanding of beauty and nature.

None of her works is created on the computer. Uncountable butterflies, insects, snakes and not least hares and chicken are part of the complex compositions of Nathalia Edenmont, expressing their own interpretation of nature. Plants and animals are arranged in contrast to the process of the increasing enlargement and refinement of the object up to complete artificiality. The merciless isolation in front of a monochrome background and the “unnatural” arrangements leave the viewer behind with a fading memory of untouched nature. The superficial beauty of the works as well as the intransigent developing process are part of the complex topic the artist is dealing with. The wings of hundreds of exotic butterflies are cut of before they are arranged on stalks as beautiful blossoms. Snakes and insects are dissected in a way know from display cabinets of natural history museums. The eyes, teeth and other parts of the body, that participate in the eerie beautiful arrangements, derive from hares and chicken, that were slaughtered, prepared and eaten by the artist herself.
Because behind flowers and butterflies there is always a message, that does not want for any social relevance. By this means Nathalia Edenmont is expressing the double moral standards of modern society, which does not want to be part of nature, although nature is still feeding and supplying it. Chicken Wings have no bearings on sweet fledglings and there is a sharp distinction between “Hoppalong” in the hare barn and the roast hare in the restaurant.
The work “Hedgehog” expresses this connection between its natural actor and an artificially made clarity in a subtle manner, that can also be seen in the butterfly works, exhibited in the gallery Terminus. Deprived of her leafs and blossoms, the flower is isolated in front of a flashy pink background. Instead of pollen and blossoms there is a blue eye in the centre of the flower watching the viewer without any emotion or expression. Without a lid the eye can neither close nor blink or turn away. It takes the naïve beauty of its medium the flower and steels its natural attributes, leaving it as an observer of an unknown world with a glance like a barb. Perhaps it is a barb of awareness.