VIENNA.- An intense fragrance fills the Carlone Hall in the Upper Belvedere: An elliptical formation comprising fifty-four kilograms of bluish-purple flowers is spread over the floor and so enters into a dialog with the frescoes by Carlo Innocenzo Carlone. In his Conceptual work 108 pounds of lavender flowers, Dutch artist herman de vries has introduced a piece of nature into this Baroque setting. Acquired last year for the Belvedere’s collection, the installation is now being presented in the CARLONE CONTEMPORARY exhibition series. A multi-sensory visitor experience thus unfurls beneath the illusionistic ceiling fresco.

General director and curator Stella Rollig: herman de vries knows how to make nature’s tranquil presence palpable. His works invite us to pause and consciously absorb the sensory effect of the natural elements. 108 pounds of lavender flowers evokes a poetic dialog between the minimalist arrangement of lavender flowers and the opulent Baroque imagery of the ceiling fresco.

Dutch artist herman de vries has held to his credo that nature is art for over fifty years. A trained botanist and landscape gardener, his artistic practice combines scientific methods such as observation, classification, and archiving with stories from mythology and philosophical perspectives. In his early career as a member of the artist group nul and in his Art Informel paintings, he engaged with fundamental structures of perception before turning increasingly to ecological issues in the 1970s. To this day he is a major exponent of Environmental Art.

At the heart of herman de vries’s work is a direct encounter with nature, always guided by a deep understanding of and respect for the earth’s natural resources. On daily explorations—for example in the Steigerwald forest in Germany and on his travels—he collects all manner of objects: flowers, stones, sticks, earth, bones, grasses, minerals, and more. He then groups these objets trouvés into sensory installations with a simplicity that has its own intrinsic aesthetic power. 108 pounds of lavender flowers from 1991 is a compelling example of this approach: The elliptical formation of dried flowers spread across the floor fills the space with color and scent. It creates a direct connection between the Baroque world of images and the experience of nature beneath the ceiling fresco of the Carlone Hall.

herman de vries was born in Alkmaar in the Netherlands in 1931. The artist lives and works in Eschenau in Germany.

Exhibitions (selection): Somerset House, London; MuseumsQuartier, Vienna; Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin; Ernst-Barlach-Haus, Hamburg. In 1997 he participated in the Skulptur Projekte in Münster; in 2015 he represented the Netherlands at the 56th Venice Biennale. His work is in the following collections (selection): Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London.