Snow covered fields. Icy lakes. Frozen windows. Drawn from the Aesthetica archives, these five artists create works full of intrigue and atmosphere – evoking winter’s chill across urban and remote landscapes.
Alessio Albi (b. 1986) uses framing devices – such as frosted car windows – to create cinematic compositions. This image is melancholy and intriguing, depicting one of Albi’s characters peering through icy glass. Delicate snowflakes fragment and splinter; the cold is palpable. It presents an atmosphere reminiscent of crime dramas: muted, foreboding, eerie. It begs the question: what will we find inside?
Winter is a photographic series by German artist Uwe Langmann (b. 1985) that depicts sweeping topographies blanketed by clean, white expanses of snow. Langmann masterfully captures the land as it is submerged by the supremacy of nature. Sheds, trees, fences and poles protrude from the clean lines of the ground. The images invite viewers to marvel at simplicity, taking a moment to pause.
Kevin Cooley
Kevin Cooley’s (b. 1975) At Light’s Edge provides views of snow-covered American landscapes illuminated by eerie distress signals – messages coming from above. Bright yellow lightning flares shoot through the sky. The project was shot in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming – some of the least populated regions in the country – states selected for their scenic qualities and historical significance.
In the midst of a white snowscape, Joël Tettamanti (b. 1977) finds moments of captivating colour. While travelling across Greenland, he discovered objects and buildings which had managed to escape the thick layers of snow engulfing the region. The primary coloured houses associated with the Northern Hemisphere stand out against the washed-out streets, half-disguised in frosty weather.
Siberia-born Evgenia Arbugaeva (b. 1985) explores the Arctic landscapes of her childhood in Weather Man. The series evolved from a chance meeting with Vyacheslav Korotki, a meteorologist living in Khodovarikha – a remote outpost. Arbugaeva aims to distil moments of magic in the scenes she records. The sequence captures the austere Arctic, illuminated by the shimmering aurora borealis.
