In this exhibition Frank Darius presents images of emptiness, in which nature is reduced to minimal traces, in contrast to his last book Willkommen im Garten (Welcome to the Garden). Bent blades of grass set against a snowy surface become calligraphic signs; reeds in the water turn into lines on a white background; and delicate lines forming a wire-mesh reveal themselves as threads of hops before a light grey sky. In these works Darius transitions from the garden to paradise. His garden of paradise occupies a sphere beyond the dichotomy between nature and culture. The reduced markings seem to indicate a conscious negation of cultural aggression. Darius risks making a contribution to the re-enchantment of the world through images of steadfast beauty. He demonstrates that a paradise lies deep within each of us, beneath many layers of perception — and that feeling always precedes reason.
»In his images of nature Frank Darius transforms the world into most delicate poetical structures. ›What is nature in actuality?‹ asks Darius in his work, in which the smallest indications of living forms, twigs, leaves, and fragile webs are nearly obliterated by snow, water, and fog. With his radically honest imagery Darius shows us that the world is an inner space endlessly unfolding as a poetic process. The viewer realizes that we are also a part of the world, but the real world simultaneously reveals itself as our interior. This attitude counters our postmodern invocation of being separated and lost. Failures and ruptures are inherent to life itself; we carry them within as sparks of life that enable us to see poetic beauty. Thus paradise can be nowhere else but here. It reveals itself, but only in the moment of its beholding.« (Andreas Weber in Frank Darius: DAS PARADIES IST HIER, exhibition catalogue Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg 2013)