Leaving, 2006
(Egg tempera and oil on canvas)

Currently studying at Central Saint Martins, German artist Claudia Chaseling’s work ranges from diary drawings and watercolours to large paintings such as this, which uses egg tempera and oil on canvas. Her representation of landscape involves multiple perspectives. Through painting the reflections of water and combining many transparent pictures in layers, she creates a juxtaposition of fragments. Water represents life and appears as a symbol of survival and sustainability. Industrial landscapes are referenced in conjunction with natural resources. For Chaseling landscape is timeless and indestructible. But whereas landscape can evoke the past, architecture, on the other hand, can point to the future. Through images of colossal purpose-built buildings she is interested in an overwhelming feeling of being insignificant or lost. Chaseling aims to merge these opposing ideas in her work. She portrays the human need for the ever larger and faster, and the need for landscape to provide the balance for living. Through her work, she attempts to challenge received notions about the sanctity of nature and suggests that our concept of it is purely a human construct.

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