Friday August 16th, Hans Alf Gallery invites everyone to join the opening of Natasha Kissell's new exhibition "Forever with Me" in the HAG Project room.

In the exhibition "Forever with Me", we once again encounter Natasha Kissell's dreamy, glowing panoramas that make us long for distant beaches and exotic holidays. In the British painter's deserted landscapes, nature extends far beyond the picture plane and draws us into a parallel universe, where the usual relationship between man and nature has been altered. One senses a deep-seated longing for a utopian, unspoiled world that Kissell tries to convey in her paintings. 

Natasha Kissell takes inspiration from German Romanticism and its tradition of viewing nature as sublime and overwhelming. But her choice of colors differs from that of her German idols: Kissell uses warmer shades, and her subjects do not have the same detached perspective seen, for example, in the works of Caspar David Friedrich – one of Kissell's greatest inspirations. But the manner of relating to nature is comparable. Kissell's nature is sublime in the way it completely takes over the canvas. 

In Kissell’s deserted landscapes, it is the viewer, who is suddenly immersed in an imagined and dreamlike world. The large canvases measure out the size of the human body, and the artist invites us to jump directly into the scenes and physically relate to her works. The motifs not only feature nature, but also man-made constructions. Lifeguard tower, swimming pools, deckchairs and surfboards invade the canvases. But despite this meeting of culture and nature, the latter is always wilder and bigger than anything man-made in the picture plane. Kissell's nature is stimulating and overwhelming, and it's hard not to get lost in these landscapes that appear improbable, yet safe and nostalgic. 

Nostalgia is always present in Kissell's work. Whether it's childhood memories or the longing for South Africa, where she grew up, there’s always a sense of longing in her paintings. Kissell herself is very aware of how she draws on her memories: "Memories are always bigger and more intense in the mind, so I choose colors that are very bright; to give the viewer the same feeling as a cherished childhood memory."

”Forever with Me” opens August 16 and will be on view through September 14 in the HAG project room.