Florian Maier-Aichen

Supplanting the expanses of classical vistas with futuristic tableaux, Florian Maier-Aichen recontextualises the romantic sublime to reflect modern day experience. Using a combination of traditional photographic techniques and computer imaging, Maier-Aichen slightly alters each image to heighten the tension within vast contemplative space. Maier-Aichen’s Untitled takes as its theme the American wilderness as conceived through 19th century painting. Through his lens, the unharnessed frontier with its associated promise and divine inspiration is transformed with unnerving effect. Impossible lighting conditions, too-manicured composition, and strange mushroom clouds give the landscape an aura of eerie expectancy.

Florian Maier-Aichen’s images reinterpret landscape photography for the 21st century. Often shot at obscure angles or from aerial views, his estranged vantage points are both alien and familiar; a sensation enhanced by his subtle manipulation of the images. Conceiving the representation of sites with a sense of dislocation, Maier-Aichen’s work addresses issues of globalisation and virtual perception. In Untitled, Maier-Aichen’s coastline is far from postcard perfect: a virgin beach lined with superhighway and luxury homes expanding into the misty distance. Tinting the surrounding forest in an unnatural shade of red, he casts an apocalyptic glow over the seascape, framing wilderness and human intervention as a scene of science fiction portent.