Sven Kroner

Untitled  2012  170 x 320cm

"Englische Landschaft" (English Landscape)  2010  150 x 280cm

"Patmos 2"  2008  160 x 250cm

"Bei Geltendorf"  2011  125 x 190cm

"Oktober"  2009  160 x 300cm

Sven Kroner is German artist creating monumental dramatic landscapes. There is clearly a link here to the german romantic tradition of David Caspar Friedrich and others. At the same time these are very modern images. After all, crop circles are (presumably) a recent phenomenon. The crop circle paintings and others represent a kind of pop-version of the romantic vision. The peculiar German fascination with native Americans finds it's way into his work as well, and there's Stonehenge, which is difficult to see these days without conjuring new age associations. But he manages to avoid cliche's by imbuing his work with much larger themes. In almost every piece the world is portrayed as a vast and mysterious place, in which the human presence seems tenuous at best, barely hanging on to the rough skin of this planet. It's a vision that has a strong contemporary appeal, also echoed in pop-culture via post-apocalyptic fantasies and survivalist themes. Looking around us, it may be hard to reconcile this vision with a world in which the human presence is actually difficult to escape, in which the very climate is likely being re-engineered by our massive and ubiquitous presence. And yet, it is a vision deeply rooted in our collective memories. The history of our species is a history of confronting and surviving a strange and unpredictable world, of infiltrating every nook and cranny  we could find, in order to eke out a precarious living. Kroner's work reminds us of this history, and that our ultimate success may still be short-lived. The scale and force of nature remains far beyond our control, even our full understanding. Wisdom dictates that we view it with a little more awe, and ourselves with a bit more humility.
There's much more to see on his website: www.svenkroner.de
It's in German. Click on "Arbeiten"  to see his full portfolios.