Forstwerk IV

Forest has always preoccupied painter Jens Rausch. He primarily uses this subject to explore processes, structures, decay, material properties, and natural cycles. His works depicting forests are always material paintings — less painted than created: the artist artistically — in the sense of a human intervention — excavates the naturally occurring structures and material properties with sharp tools. With this practice he introduces fine branches, trunks, structure, and clearings into his work, inviting viewers not only to look into a forest, but also at a forest that forms from forest materials such as ash, soot, earth. In his most recent works, he reinforces this impression through the use of spray paint, which he employs — as in a real forest — as a kind of marker and cryptic language. The titles of the works allude to this approach, are descriptions of the work and the process, because the remaining material on the canvas surface can also be interpreted as "inventory."