Nature and the Abstract Language of Landscape - Experiencing Places
- 5 hours ago
- 5 min read
Our experiences of 'places' are naturally expressed, consciously or subconsciously when we interpret, describe or re-envisage those places through our creative endeavours; whether that's in paint on canvas, through the lens of a camera or by drawing in pencil on paper.
A focus of my current work is distilling elements of my place based experiences and developing aspects of my visual abstract language to describe them. Whilst my current paintings are still works in progress, broadening my perspective of my current themes and ideas by looking at the way in which other artists have approached similar ideas, both in their philosophy and in their creative outputs, is a good excuse for a little deep dive research!
I have long loved the distinctive work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser - I was first attracted to his work because of his use of repeated motifs, pattern and vibrant colour. But his work is about so much more than that. He had a deeply held philosophical worldview about living in harmony with nature, which underpinned his life's work and this related directly to his experiences of 'place'.
| Landscape as a Living Entity
Hundertwasser was as an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection. His work offers a powerful lens through which to explore the idea of our relationship with 'place' and the way in which we see our environment. He saw landscape not as something static or observed from a distance, but as something lived, felt, and continuously negotiated, irrespective of the type of landscape (urban or countryside).
| Landscape & Belonging
Hundertwasser's paintings, architecture, and philosophy dissolved the boundaries between the human and the natural world, inviting a visual and emotional “fluency” in environment that feels deeply aligned with contemporary explorations of landscape and belonging and the way in which I am approaching my current paintings.
| The Abstract Language of Landscape
At the heart of Hundertwasser’s practice was a rejection of the rigid, the linear, and the imposed. He resisted straight lines and instead embraced organic forms such as spirals, undulating contours, and irregular colour fields, that were more closely aligned with patterns found in nature.
This wasn’t simply an aesthetic or visual style choice for him. His visual language supported his worldview that to create in harmony with nature meant allowing forms to emerge in the same way landscapes do: unpredictably, intuitively, organically and without strict control, allowing irregularities to unfold.
| Translations of Lived Experience
This idea resonates strongly with the notion of fluency in place — a way of engaging with landscape that moves beyond representation into relationship. Fluency suggests familiarity, responsiveness, and a kind of embodied understanding. In Hundertwasser’s work, we see this fluency expressed through repetition and variation, through marks that feel less like depictions and more like translations of lived experience within a place.
His spirals and concentric circles, for instance, are often read as symbols of life cycles, growth, and connection; forms that exist in shells, plants, weather systems, and even human cells.
| Landscapes Shaped by Emotion and Memory
Colour also plays a crucial role in Hundertwasser's painted dialogue with the environment. His colour schemes are seldom purely naturalistic, yet they seem deeply connected to ecological experiences. His application of vivid, layers of colour evokes the intensity of being immersed in a landscape, while simultaneously creating a sense of altered perception associated with reflecting on memories of places and environmental experiences.
| Distillation & Altered Perception
As I create my current paintings, I am keenly aware of how my distant childhood memories and experiences of places have transformed in my mind over time. My new artworks are the result of years of these memories being intertwined with more recent experiences, which introduces the concept of my perceptions changing over time. Allowing this shift in perception broadens the scope for understanding landscape as both an internal and external space, shaped by emotion, memory, and the passing of time.
Hundertwasser frequently embedded 'place' directly into the naming of his works, reinforcing the inseparability of image and environment. Titles such as “Rainy Day in Tokyo,” do more than describe; they situate the work within a specific emotional and geographical context. Even when the imagery becomes abstracted, the title anchors it, suggesting that the work is not just inspired by a place, but arises from an encounter with it.
My painting titles often move more towards describing the emotional connection I have to a place or a felt response to a particular environment. But I'm interested in exploring the idea of creating an anchor that goes beyond the visual in terms of completing a painting with a title that speaks to the physical environment. Perhaps this would enable my visual language to move further into abstraction.
| Contemporary Interpretations of Landscape
The interplay between abstraction and specificity is particularly relevant when thinking about the possible ways in which we can explore and describe landscape. Rather than aiming for topographical accuracy, we can place a greater emphasis on capturing the essence of place; its rhythms, textures, shapes and atmosphere and link the visuals with the narrative in the form of a painting title.
Hundertwasser’s painting practice models a way of doing this that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. His imagery and naming conventions combine to speak to his unique perspective of place and experience of environment.
| Beyond Literal Depiction
In the context of contemporary art practices that explore landscape and environment, Hundertwasser’s work remains strikingly relevant. It encourages a shift away from viewing nature as subject matter, and towards understanding it as collaborator. It asks: what does it mean to belong to a place, rather than simply to depict it? How can marks, materials, and processes reflect a deeper connection to any given environment?
By incorporating printed impressions taken from my environment I am deepening the connection between the work, the place it describes, my experience of it, and the experience of making the work about the place.
| Final Thoughts
Like Hundertwasser, we can draw on repetition, layering, and intuitive mark-making to develop a visual language that feels responsive rather than imposed. Naming a piece can become an integral part of the work — not an afterthought, but a way of grounding abstracted landscapes in lived geography and experience. And perhaps most importantly, the act of making can become a form of listening: to landscape, to memory, and to the subtle shifts that define our connection to place.
In this way, fluency in place is not something to be mastered, but something to be practiced — an ongoing conversation between artist, environment, and the marks that emerge in between as we search for our own personal language of landscape.
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