Deities of the Forest introduction

BETTINA CARL
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FORSTGOTTHEITEN 2010 - 2011
DEITIES OF THE FOREST Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The occidental imagery of "nature" has

been a reference for many works of mine.

KAUNTRI 1, A LA RECHERCHE or THE

LOCALS are but a few examples, and my

recent series DEITIES OF THE FOREST

continues this line.

The DEITIES OF THE FOREST are about

twigs, moss, foliage, desire, clair-obscur and

a thicket of traditional notions. The concept of

"nature" prevalent today in the West, began

to form with the dawn of modernity roughly

250 years ago. The more the protagonist of

Western civilisation found he could dominate

nature's fateful and unpredictable forces, the

more he started to aestheticise and adore

"nature". Eventually, "nature" provided an

ideal counterpart, the ground on which to

define his status as a subject.

A deity = Gottheit, a goddess or a god, is very

much the Other. Something completely remote,

though beloved and feared, a deity is all desire

visualised.

KAPELLE Nr. 1 CHAPEL #1, charcoal. pastel chalk, watercolour, pencil, collage on paper, 49 cm x 53 cm, 2010

My DEITIES OF THE FOREST are a funny group of idols. Some are hardly to be discerned from their contexts, others explicitly

feature their bodies, resembling Big Foot or the Willendorf Venus. The title alludes to the period style of late 19th century, when

in the arts images of voluptuous yet menacing women became rampant: dubious nymphs, dryads, and sirens acted out what

the male subject of the time strictly denied himself to be, however strongly he might long to have it.

Subjectivity = Innerlichkeit was held near and dear by the Romanticists, yet strangely enough it was located outdoors, in the

landscape, i.e.: in a picture. Although the special German soft spot for woods probably dates back to ancestral wild men, it

only acquired an ideological veneer in the early 19th century. At the time, the scheming of a German national identity required

a distinctive set of myths; national-liberal activists held celebrations in the woods, and Romanticist art was full of firs and oaks.

Larger groups of trees have remained objects of veneration in German-speaking countries ever since: from the early 20th

century's youth movements, to the Nazis' racist analogies of Wald and Volk, until recent environmentalist campaigns.

The German word Forst = forest is a term void of sentiment, used in technical and administrative contexts only. Thus the title

"Forstgottheiten" is a coinage with a rather ugly sound. Der Wald on the other hand, is a sacred place. I was taught to behave

respectfully in the forest, to be there almost as good as in church. So the German Être Suprême, it seems, is still residing

in the woods.

BETTINA CARL	HOME	>> deutsch


FORSTGOTTHEITEN 2010 - 2011 DEITIES OF THE FOREST	Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11




The occidental imagery of "nature" has been a reference for many works of mine. KAUNTRI 1, A LA RECHERCHE or THE LOCALS are but a few examples, and my recent series DEITIES OF THE FOREST continues this line. The DEITIES OF THE FOREST are about twigs, moss, foliage, desire, clair-obscur and a thicket of traditional notions. The concept of "nature" prevalent today in the West, began to form with the dawn of modernity roughly 250 years ago. The more the protagonist of Western civilisation found he could dominate nature's fateful and unpredictable forces, the more he started to aestheticise and adore "nature". Eventually, "nature" provided an ideal counterpart, the ground on which to define his status as a subject. A deity = Gottheit, a goddess or a god, is very much the Other. Something completely remote, though beloved and feared, a deity is all desire visualised.
	KAPELLE Nr. 1 CHAPEL #1, charcoal. pastel chalk, watercolour, pencil, collage on paper, 49 cm x 53 cm, 2010
My DEITIES OF THE FOREST are a funny group of idols. Some are hardly to be discerned from their contexts, others explicitly feature their bodies, resembling Big Foot or the Willendorf Venus. The title alludes to the period style of late 19th century, when in the arts images of voluptuous yet menacing women became rampant: dubious nymphs, dryads, and sirens acted out what the male subject of the time strictly denied himself to be, however strongly he might long to have it. Subjectivity = Innerlichkeit was held near and dear by the Romanticists, yet strangely enough it was located outdoors, in the landscape, i.e.: in a picture. Although the special German soft spot for woods probably dates back to ancestral wild men, it only acquired an ideological veneer in the early 19th century. At the time, the scheming of a German national identity required a distinctive set of myths; national-liberal activists held celebrations in the woods, and Romanticist art was full of firs and oaks. Larger groups of trees have remained objects of veneration in German-speaking countries ever since: from the early 20th century's youth movements, to the Nazis' racist analogies of Wald and Volk, until recent environmentalist campaigns. The German word Forst = forest is a term void of sentiment, used in technical and administrative contexts only. Thus the title "Forstgottheiten" is a coinage with a rather ugly sound. Der Wald on the other hand, is a sacred place. I was taught to behave respectfully in the forest, to be there almost as good as in church. So the German Être Suprême, it seems, is still residing in the woods.