Some People feel the Rain. Others just get wet. – Mathias Kessler

About

The exhibition Some People Feel the Rain. Others just get wet. presents artworks by Mathias Kessler that elicit a conversation about environmental issues through exploring different artistic mediums to forge new links to the materiality of nature.

Kessler’s exploration of image-making results in new ways of making photographs via materials not typically used in photographic production. The works that are created out of this experimentation spotlight specific situations that show the severity of climate change both in material and subject. In relating his photography back to natural landscapes depicted in the times of Romanticism, Kessler points to the root of the estranged human-nature relationship: the idealized image of nature as a pristine and untouched place. Thus, when looking at the beautiful colour schemes of Kessler’s gradient painting series Light Phenomena, the perceivers are reminded of all those marvelous sunsets they witnessed and may be shared on their online profiles. However, when engaging with the materiality of the artwork, the perceiver is confronted with the origin of the scene’s beauty, namely human pollution. Observing those material details lets the perceivers question their experience of the natural world – Am I paying attention to the actual nature that surrounds me? Am I receptive to the processes that constitute the human-nature relationship? Am I feeling the rain? Or am I just getting wet?