Amazement, idyll, and transformation: Katharina Anna Lodl questions common alpine romanticism
For her most recent series, Austrian artist Katharina Anna Loidl has reworked steel engravings of Swiss alpine landscapes, transforming the original nineteenth-century prints with an etching needle and burin. By removing parts of the printer’s ink, Loidl also removes portions of the landscapes. In their place, she introduces simple geometric shapes, deliberately lacking in distinguishing architectural detail so that viewers are encouraged to imagine structures of their choosing—apartment blocks, industrial buildings, or sports facilities—added to the idyllic images.
Landscape Engravings brings together fifty of Loidl’s alpine landscapes. Vitus Weh’s essay examines the sublime and crystalline character of Loidl’s art, and Paolo Bianchi looks at aspects of romanticism, landscape as sensation, and the art of repetition. By introducing spatial interventions to the idealized images, Loidl asks the viewer to consider the impact of residential and industrial encroachment on the natural world and the value we ought to place on its preservation.
«Katharina Anna Loidls Landschaftsradierungen faszinieren; sie nehmen uns mit in eine pittoreske Vergangenheit, in der sich zeitgenössische Erscheinungen manifestieren. Sie fügt ihnen durch Auslöschen neue Elemente hinzu, die neben dem Hinweis auf einen menschlichen Eingriff in die Natur auch ästhetisch äusserst anregende Momente enthalten.» Stefanie Handke, www.portalkunstgeschichte.de