The artist Jan Davidoff has been exploring the subject of humans and the nature surrounding them for some years. He is especially interested in how people and nature influence each other, and which forces are at work in this reciprocal relationship. In the recent past, he addressed this subject through installations, as well as classical painting, exploiting the newly found space by placing the horizontal level next to the vertical. The pull that nature exerts on the anthropogenic landscape – represented on his often large-format paintings – reveals itself impressively in this way.

The bird, omnipresent in the exhibition and following a vertical line, can be seen to a certain extent as a medium between man and nature, in a manifestation of Goethe’s maxim that people need both roots and wings to be free. However, the extent to which this theory can be realized remains highly questionable: After all, the creature is at risk in equal measure of acting carelessly or of letting its wings be clipped. In addition to traditional canvas, Davidoff often uses materials such as paper, wood, and metal in his paintings, which produce reflections, distortions, and multidimensionality through their haptic qualities, created by intensive manual treatment of the surfaces. This enables the observer, time and again, to perceive an astounding depth of space, despite the reduced and graphic representation.

Through this combination of abstraction and figurativeness, Davidoff succeeds in developing his own sharp handwriting, which today finds international approval in numerous exhibitions, including Art Cologne, Art Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Zurich.