Earth klein 2010

Rolf Ohst made this very large painting, Earth klein, probably in the last 20 years. It’s painted with oils in a realist style. The subdued tones and the rendering of flesh and bone are incredibly tactile. I really sympathise with Ohst, the painter, here. He has a vision of this giantess in a landscape surrounded by tiny people. He then needs to figure out how to transfer this vision onto a 2 by 3 meter canvas. The painting has so many details, it’s like a puzzle. You can see scaffolding going up the side of this huge supine woman. There is a whole crowd of workers going about their business around her. What kind of world is this where this can happen? Painters are always talking to each other, riffing off one another's work. I’m thinking of the Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels, or even more literally, Christo’s wrapped buildings. The painting feels like an embodied expression, embracing multiple interpretations.