Übern Wald

There are two places where people long to be, where they hope for relaxation and peace, where they can recover and where they can grow wings: the sea and the forest.

The photographer Peter Bialobrzeski and the painter Miwa Ogasawara both live in Hamburg and constantly exchange ideas with one another. In 2022, the gallery showed their work on the sea with the Title Übers Meer, followed this year by Übern Wald. The cooperation between the photographer and the painter proves to be highly fruitful and indeed profound, because it enables them to take up and show different aspects of a subject. After all, there are usually numerous perspectives, and in this case they complement one another marvellously.The photographer documents the forest, disabusing us of the illusion that the world is still okay there. Idea and reality are today often far apart. A forest which at first sight seems intact may initially appear romantic, but this is disrupted by greying stems and other dead wood. The works remind us that Romanticism is an aesthetic and historical concept. But they also provide comfort, because a view into the forest is still beautiful and soothing.Miwa Ogasawara refuses even to attempt to view the forest as reality. For her, it is pure idea, an emblem for the eternal cycle of growth and decay, which in turn is the foundation for change and renewal. The vertical trees stand for resilience, and the delicate, reduced colour palette renders the quiet and depth of the forest. The small paintings on metal leaf capture the wonderful play of light in the forest beautifully. Her paintings allow us to experience the forest sensually, and they speak to our soul.