Studio Gallery is pleased to present German artist Johanna K Becker's solo exhibition so much wood would a woodchuck chuck, which is full of black humour. The exhibition will open on 16th December 2023 at our gallery space until 19th February 2024.

The title 'so much wood would a woodchuck chuck' derives from a well-known pun, that—conversely—asks the inherently human and utterly absurd question of how much wood a woodchuck could actually chuck if it could chuck wood. To be clear: a woodchuck cannot chuck wood! Despite its essence as a linguistic quirk, this sentence brings to light profound attributes of human nature. The urge to explain the inexplicable and make the invisible visible appears to be one of the most powerful driving forces. Continuously advancing scientific research is already enabling profound alterations in the natural system, presenting countless possibilities for the future—with unforeseeable consequences.

In her work titled so much wood would a woodchuck chuck, German artist Johanna K Becker takes us into a bizarre 'terra incognita'—a garden of sorts—filled with all kinds of peculiar objects, such as a rosé-coloured model of an opulent park or a scenery encapsulated in polyester resin. Frozen relics of eloquent aquascapes, seemingly petrified arboreal fragments spiked with what appears to be exquisite minerals and drawings of weirdly shaped tree-compilations can be found in this curious terrain. Thus, the exhibition space of the Studio Gallery—that appears subterranean like a mycorrhiza tinted in a light green colour—has been transformed into some sort of a treasure cave, holding hints of nature like long lost valuables.

For many years, Johanna K Becker has mainly been focusing on the subject of images of nature and landscape in different historical and cultural contexts. Our current image of nature and landscape presents itself as a multifaceted collage of diverse pictures, scientific theories, and ideologies based on our cultural history. Fragments of perceptions that have subconsciously manifested in us over time continue to shape our perspective on nature and landscape, influencing our behaviour in this essential sphere.

Johanna K Becker's work is conceived as a 'reflection en miniature' of our representations of nature and landscape, serving as an expression of our collective understanding of nature. She utilises a variety of sources, including historical descriptions and depictions, as well as contemporary research. The materials she uses are explicitly artificial: silicones, polymers, and polyurethanes, which embody the sometimes radically abstract relationship between us humans and nature. The exhibition includes the fruit of Johanna K Becker's second participation in the Studio Gallery's residency projects. During the nearly two-and-a-half months' residency, the artist breaks away from the constraints of previous creative contexts and rediscovers her origins through a fresh lens, centring on Post-Nature and Landscape, and delving into the conflict and balance between human beings and nature.

About the artist

Johanna K Becker (b.1980, Worms, Germany) Johanna's artistic expression ranges from sculpture to drawings to video. She studied Fine Art as a master's student in the class of Cornelius Völker at the Academy of Fine Arts Münster/Germany, after graduating with a Master's degree in Book Science, Art History, and Cultural Anthropology at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz/Germany and a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Communication Arts at the Napier University Edinburgh/Scotland. She has taken part in many international residencies like the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris/France, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency in Shanghai/China, and the MOHA Art Studio in Ulsan/Korea.

**Main Collections: **

Bayer Art Collection, Leverkusen.

Städtische Galerie Schwalenberg, Landesverband

Lippe Museum Schlössle, Wolfach

Press release courtesy Studio Gallery.