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Land…the
possession of, control of, and exploitation of…is a consistent
preoccupation of all countries. Less, or unimportant to governing
bodies, is the ecological balance and preservation of our precious
Earth.
As a young artist studying the life of early landscape
painters, I remember reading about how the Railroad Barons of the late
1800s in the USA, searching for a means to protect their investment,
paid artists, like Albert Bierstadt, to paint the West in such a way as
to inspire a migration of people who settled in indigenous lands in
search of opportunity.
Would we recognize the Earth as it was back then? So much has changed.
Based
on the traditional landscape painting, the work of the Reconstructed
Landscape Series gives evidence to the process of a landscape created,
then destroyed or deconstructed, to be rebuilt again in a distinct form.
The
idea of loss and a point of no return are the underlying concepts of
this series. The process and end result of these works demonstrate a
simple analogy to our relationship with the natural environment
─ we cannot go back in time to undo the damage that has already
been done; we can only move forward and put back together the pieces to
reconstruct as best we can.
As agent of the destructive process
in the Reconstructed Landscape Series, I remind myself I am in part,
the cause of the actual environmental crisis we face.
Through
the process of this work the destroyed landscapes are put back together
once again, each a record of its own destruction and reconstruction.
Davis Birks
2021
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| Reconstructed Landscape 2, 2019 Acrylic paint on found wood panel
18 x 32 x 3.5 cm. |
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| Reconstructed Landscape 5, 2019 Acrylic paint on found wood panel
68 x 36 x 8 cm.
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| Reconstructed Landscape 7, 2019 Acrylic paint on found wood panel
110 x 111 x 2 cm. |
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| Reconstructed Landscape 10, 2019 Acrylic paint on found wood panel
14 x 16 x 5 cm. 
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| Reconstructed Landscape 13, 2019 Acrylic paint on found wood panel
41 x 64 x 39 cm.
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Reconstructed Landscape 31 (window 1), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas with wood stretcher
190 x 19 x 4 cm In
this work the painted landscape is cut into sections. Then the work is
mounted facing the wall, extending the cut sections of the landscape
out away from the wood stretcher to create an empty window, the
landscape outside the frame.
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Reconstructed Landscape 35, 2021
Acrylic paint on wood panel with painted wood frame
Triptych
Each element measures: 47.5 x 57 x 4 cm.
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Reconstructed Landscape: Inside-outside, 2021
Multimedia
installation with artificial trees and grass, mirror panels, digital
impression on vinyl, electric lamp, airconditioner, plastic
chair, painted wood table, books (Bierstadt, Lucy Lipard), found oil
painted landscape on canvas with painted wood frame, gravel, and live
plants.
Dimensions variable This artificial environment is a reconstructed idea of nature based on a found painted landscape.
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Reconstructed Adjustable Landscape 3 (small version), 2021
Acrylic paint on wood panel, polyurethane, and metal nuts and bolts
Dimensions variable
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Installation view of the exhibition a walk on the park: Reconstructed Landscapes, at Galería Omar Alonso, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2021
photo: Josef Kandoll
More images from the exhibition...here>>
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Installation view of Reconstructed Landscape 39, 2022
Acrylic paint on found plywood
Dimensions variable (this installation 3m x 6m)
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Reconstructed Adjustable Landscape 3, 2022
Acrylic paint on wood panel, polyurethane, and metal nuts and bolts
Dimensions variable (installation view 6m tall)
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Press/Texts
