Jean-Marc Bustamante has been depicting psychologically charged views of the landscape in large-scale photographs since the 1980s. This work is part of a series focusing on the region around Switzerland's most notable lakes, a setting closely associated with late-eighteenth-century landscape painters; the artist has commented that the name of the series, L. P., can mean lake photographs, lost paradise, or long playing. Images of this region are routinely mass-produced in postcards and calendars. Here, Bustamante offers the viewer a photographic still life, but rather than depicting a picturesque tree full of greenery, he chooses to feature the stump of a felled tree against a serene lake with cloud-covered mountains in the distance. Although the stump and tangle of ground foliage are obviously the result of human presence, Bustamante is not concerned about making an environmental statement. Instead, he wants to present an image he feels has no preconceived message or meaning, inviting viewers to draw their own conclusions.

Label from Anselm Kiefer: Beyond Landscape, November 17, 2013–October 5, 2014