Rob Johannesma

Dutch artist Rob Johannesma's (born 1970, The Netherlands) work requires a careful look. With Landscape (2001), that is included in the AkzoNobel art collection, and other works of the same period, the artist was on a quest for landscapes still unsullied by man. Having located such places, he captured impressive 'emptiness' of these spaces where silence reigns. These should be seen in a tradition of painting that has been called "the atmospheric landscape", whose roots can be traced back to the Renaissance. The artist does not strive to represent reality accurately, but aims to catch and enchant the eye of the beholder. Landscape provokes wonder and raises the question of what is 'natural'. We are left wondering whether this photograph really shows the landscape as the artist discovered it. Is it real, or has the depiction taken over from reality?