Thomas Struth: New Pictures From Paradise

Deep in the magical semi-darkness of forests and jungles, through the impenetrable yet bright green of the trees, tangled up in tropical plants, rampant jungle vegetation, and mossy brooks, lies paradise. At least it does in Thomas Struth's New Pictures from Paradise, in which each oversize image is a mesmerizing but photographically distant haven unto itself. From Daintree, Australia to Yunnan Province, China, from the mossy valleys of Yakushima, Japan to the looming pine forests of Bavaria, Germany and the lush rainforests of Brazil, Thomas Struth has carried out his photographic expeditions. Capturing settings of so-called untamed nature, his astonishingly detailed images carry with them thoughts of environmental exploitation, the mystification of nature, and the possibility of nature as utopia. Exhibited in monumental print sizes of up to 2.70 x 3.40 m, Struth's pictures are here presented in an appropriately large-scale format, accompanied by individual essays from psychologist Ingo Hartmann and art historian Hans Rudolph Reust, each of whom shines their own particular light into Struth's dense forests and jungles.