©Thomas Ost

When looking at a landscape, our eyes search for the infinity of the horizon. But a landscape is not defined by the unreachable point where land meets sky. It is defined by the matter that lies under our feet. By working with organic pigments from the land and shifting the scope from the distant to our direct surroundings; we open the possibility for new ways to experience our environment and our place in it.

Looking at the paintings of these seemingly peaceful animals one starts to wonder what happened there. Are they still alive? Did they suffer? Was their faith avoidable? The series was painted in the weeks after witnessing the devastation of a forest fire in northern Portugal that took the lives of 7 humans and an undocumented amount of animals. The circularity of life and death is a natural process. But not always.

"A Geography of Colour" is an artistic project in which artist and designer Zeno Aerts investigates the relationship between color, materiality, geography and human interpretation. By collecting natural pigments from various European locations, the artist translates these materials into unique palettes that reflect the physical and cultural characteristics of the places, resulting in a multi-dimensional artistic dialogue about connection, place and perception.
The pigments used for the work during this exhibition were collected during residencies at Hektor Lanzarote (Es) and Quinta das Relvas (Pt).