On Field Aesthetics

To recognize nature’s nearly infinite range of forms and colors is nothing new. Surprising though is Olivier Lasserre’s view on what we call cultural landscape. His objective in the works now on display at LUMAS is pointed vertically onto vegetable fields – the pictures are taken from a helicopter. Perhaps dating back to the times when he was a student in biology, yet surely related to his work as landscape architect, his interest in microstructures and textures remains pronounced. Starting with the photographic documentation of urban contexts and the occupation of nature by man, the photographer finally reached the realm of agriculture, which in its geometric order met Lesserre’s growing enthusiasm for constructivism and for the grandmaster of abstraction himself, Mark Rothko. The horizon as motive for a picture however remained suspicious to him. Since his tour through the Sahara it it was definitely questionable to him and from then on epitomized the conventional view. The depiction of the horizon feels like “something used, it deteriorates into a cliché postcard motive” as it transforms even the most abstract surface back into a landscape. It is the anchor for all those who still want to “recognize” something in a picture, meaning some object. Olivier Lasserre moves in the opposite direction. He does not want to visualize landscape through abstraction; instead his aim is to transfer nature into abstraction. This topic caught the swiss perfectionist. He developed a personal obsession for it and has since been visualizing the unique beauty of agriculture. And one thing is for sure: his flight over walnut and olive plantations, over black peat, rice and lavender fields, oyster beds and salt lakes will not come to an end for a long time – due to his curiosity that is probably as big as the range of nature’s forms and colors.