I have been involved with land sighting for many decades. As a child, my perception of the landscape was coupled with a sense of beauty. It arose when I was moving, running, cycling or climbing mountains, when the landscape-space components of foreground, background, sky and light came together in such a way that an aesthetic moment arose for me. As a visual artist, I still ask myself this basic visual question today. In the course of my artistic representation, the question of the use of painterly and graphic means was added to the visual perception of the landscape space. Bringing this together is my profession.
The art project LANDSYN – Land in Sight has the elements land, point of view, movement, observation, sighting, decision and execution “En Plein Air”. I chose the island of Iceland as the land. The point of view is the old fishing trawler Pall Helgi on the North Atlantic. A tent with a large lookout facing the coastline was installed on it. There was a painting table in the tent from which the landscape was viewed and the time to start the graphic and picturesque action was decided. The oak boat sailed a total distance of around 2500 nautical miles at a speed of two to ten knots. It sailed through 48 Icelandic fjords one or more times and landed in 28 harbors. I worked on paper, Arches Rives handmade paper, 300g/sqm in the format 80 x 120 cm or 60 x 80 cm. My graphic tools were the folding bone, a blunt etching needle, pencil, steel nib and ink brush. I used color pigment doughs from the Kremer company, which David Kremer made especially for the trip. The binder was shellac.
The time of the circumnavigation was June to mid-August 2021. Bolungarvik in the northwest of Iceland was the starting and end point of the painting trip. Direction N-E-S-W.
I worked exclusively on the water. My inspirational observations always took place while I was at sea. I would look at the landscape from the lookout of my tent and, when I saw a landscape that I found moving, I would start my painting and drawing process. I usually started by making indentations in the front and back of the paper with a folding bone, etching needle or blunt pencil. Once an idea for a picture had emerged, I colored the drawing with color inks. The sheet was usually titled with the name of the place and located with nautical measurements in length and width and then signed.
The outside conditions, temperature and weather strongly influenced my work. But the movement of the boat in the swell was decisive. When the waves were very strong, I usually created very direct works with a strong expressive style. It was a very rigorous process of recording and expressing. The strong physicality at work demanded a very consistent realization. I really appreciated this wildness. In calm waters, correspondingly delicate and fine works were created. The drawing could be more complex and the color could be mixed in a more differentiated way. The weather, swell and strong ocean currents fundamentally influenced my observations and my working process. The rapidly changing light moods were the basis for the respective color decisions.
The artistic exploration was directly linked to the present situation on the water. Wind, weather and water shaped my work. The onward journey of the ship thus constantly changed the point of view of my land view and is thus the immanent difference to my work on land. The point of view on land is always fixed and the view is only characterized by changing light moods, quite different on the water while sailing. A situation that demanded precise perception and lightning-fast realization: no hesitation, an impressionistic impression, an expressive execution, a momentary decision, no weighing up, radical realization, heads or tails, always risky. It was working in the here and now, full of concentration, a working frenzy, wonderful for me.
The simple free life on board Pall Helgi framed the workplace. We cooked, ate and slept together with the ship’s crew in the small cabin in the bow of the boat. They ate almost exclusively the previous day’s catch, discussed everything at the small cabin table or made spontaneous decisions depending on the weather situation: short, direct and immediate. The atmosphere among the crew was always excellent and there was a lot of laughter. The crew consisted of the captain and engineer Loftur Bjarnason (56 years old), the cook and manager of the trip Sigfus Almarsson (66 years old), Gabriele Lang-Kröll as documentarian and sailor (55 years old) and the artist Peter Lang (55 years old). During Loftur’s shore leave, Fri∂thjoffur Saevasson (54) took over the helm and Arni Samuelsson (70) supported him as engineer. Sometimes we also had guests on board who accompanied us for a few days. Together we defied all the odds and were surprised and rewarded with the incredible beauty of the island.
Thanks to the prudent and professional captains, we survived the wild voyage unscathed, which is fortunate. We didn’t hunt fish together, but the beauty of the island. What a painting adventure!
At sea, August 20, Nöronna (ferry Iceland-Denmark)
Peter Lang