Lookout Point, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Series of paintings and a publication. 7 works in 3 sizes: 1 of 187,5✗101cm, 1 of 110✗70cm, 5 of 77✗43cm. Total size of the block of 7 pieces: 350✗205 cm. Reproduced by Painghere.com and Pinting SunBird
Graphic designer, publisher and artist Hans Gremmen (1976, NL) has a special interest in the grandeur of the American landscape. For the contemporary explorer that he is there is plenty of space left to discover, especially the sense of romance of the mid-nineteenth century expeditions expanding westwards, whose reports about railway construction resulted in a near-tangible ‘historical sensation’. Seen in this light it comes as no surprise that Gremmen focused on an exemplary painting by Thomas Moran, for his project Lookout Point, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. In 1869 Moran was asked to illustrate for the public one of the early expeditions to Yellowstone. He made drawings on the basis of descriptions without having ever been to Yellowstone himself. His idealized depiction of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872), painted in his hometown of Newark, nevertheless proved decisive in the designation of Yellowstone as national park, by the authorities who had no doubts about the authenticity of this picture. Gremmen’s project, in line with this infectious form of falsification of history, playfully comments on Moran’s apparent contempt for a true-to-life rendering and the way in which he seduced his audience. Employing a far-reaching reproduction process — commissioning various commercial Chinese oil painters to repaint reproduction upon reproduction —, Gremmen brings into sharp focus questions surrounding fiction and reality and the ‘seeing’ and ‘seen’.