Carol Rhodes

In the organizer's words:

In February 2024, Haus am Waldsee is presenting two parallel exhibitions by the American artist Jenna Bliss (*1984 New York) and the Scottish painter Carol Rhodes (*1959 Edinburgh; † 2018 Glasgow). The use of temporally or spatially distanced perspectives that allow new angles on established narratives are characteristic of the work of both artists. Through these critical perspectives, geographical, social and historical contexts are made visible. By combining everyday observations, speculation and meticulous research, the films, photographs, sculptures and paintings in the two exhibitions create a space in which fact and fiction collide and the wider scope of structural human intervention becomes tangible.

In her work, Carol Rhodes has devoted herself primarily to landscapes that generally receive little attention: post-industrial areas criss-crossed by industrial plants, airports, highways or reservoirs that evoke the unstoppable flow of material and labor. Human activity is omnipresent in her images, but people themselves are nowhere to be found. This oscillation between a diffuse presence and absence, between the supposedly recognizable and the abstract, is characteristic of the artist's painting. Her paintings are based on experiences and impressions in the real world, but are fictitious syntheses composed of different sources. In addition to maps, environmental studies or photographs that she found in books on urban planning, geography or geology, she also included her own images, which she sometimes took herself with her camera from helicopters or airplanes. Rhodes transcended all these different sources in the course of a complex painting process that involved numerous sketches, drawings and revisions. Her scenes appear familiar and at the same time strange, everyday and yet mysterious.

The exhibition at Haus am Waldsee brings together a selection of works from the years 1993-2015 and presents not only paintings but also some of the artist's drawings that were rarely exhibited during her lifetime.

Price information:

Regular admission: 8 EUR Reduced: 5 EUR