Erika Maack

Fragments of a dream? Scenes from a film? The topography of a mysterious miniature world? In sculpture and then photography, Erika Maack, born in 1969 in the U.K., and now working in Basel, traverses the territory between nature and artificiality, recreating blossoming cherry branches, sea ice and the dark night sky in her studio, in order to photograph them in soft, glowing color--building a new world, then making it the center of her work. Paradoxically, the photographs create a magical atmosphere, so that nature, in all its romantic seductive power, once again casts a spell on viewers. We fly enchanted with her "snow rain planets" past empty houses over frosty landscapes, and would not be surprised if they were suddenly animated by mysterious figures. This first monograph gives a comprehensive view of Maacks's oeuvre, and the installations in her first solo museum exhibition.