For the past six years, his digital renderings have examined the tension field of post-war megastructures, stemming from the brutalist movement, between their revolutionary sculptural beauty and their loss of human scale.
through his series A Future City From The PastClemens Gritl draws on "the mystifying vision of a radically aggressive and uncompromising urban dystopia".
Starting with the dystopian novel IGH (High-Rise) by J. G. Ballard, published in 1975 and adapted into a film by Ben Wheatley in 2015. The Berlin-based artist therefore starts from this premise: Can the presence and atmosphere of a massive residential tower influence social relations to the point of pushing towards destruction and anarchy? His images question the consequences, imagining the influence that monumental architecture can have on society and human beings.
While the photorealistic aspect aligns with genre photography of the 1960s, some illustrations are particularly inspired by the work of architects Owen Luder & Rodney Gordon and photographer Thomas Struth. “All buildings and structures are homogeneous. The differentiations of architectural styles and periods are eliminated and replaced by geometric structures, repetition, and absolute materiality.” explains the artist. In this deliberate black and white, these "living machines" (referring to Le Corbusier's definition: "a house is a machine for living in") are encircled by endless highway networks, forming a "super brutalist" megalopolis. His 3D architectural models thus show how a prefabricated city might age in a world of endless concrete and asphalt.
Image credits © Clemens Gritl
