Nils-Udo is an artist who cares deeply for the environment, and through his unique style of sculpting art out of the environment, he communicates his care for nature.

Nils-Udo is an artist who creates primarily through the medium of photography and whose abstract style struck me as particularly interesting at first glance. Nils Udo is an artist of German descent born in 1934. At the start of his artistic career, he was a painter. Eventually, he discovered that through the use of natural materials such as plants or flowers, he was able to add more to his artwork. In 1960 he decided to mostly work outdoors to take in the nature that he takes materials from to make his artwork. During this time, he realized how dire of a situation nature was in and became dedicated to environmental art because of this. This kind of artwork involved him using natural materials, as before, but making sorts of sculptures out of them and photographing what he came up with. Sometimes this involved him rearranging materials he found in a natural environment. Alternatively, Udo may take some materials back with him into the city and make urban art out of the natural materials he picks up, intending to create a juxtaposition between the natural and the man-made.

The exodus for his change to an environmental artist is described by Udo specifically as “Moving from Paris to rural Bavaria, perceiving the endangerment of nature, its growing destruction, I lived through a profound change of awareness.” His philosophy toward the preservation of nature became his life’s mission around this time, stating that “To preserve the original character of nature, its unscathed condition, was like preserving the air I breathed, the basis of my existence.” He states that “The idea of planting my work literally into nature – “of making it a part of nature”, of submitting it to nature – its cycles and rhythms, filled me … with a deep inner peace … [and] with seemingly inexhaustible new possibilities and fields of action.” 

This philosophy can be seen in several of his artworks, such as CLEMSON CLAY – NEST, a photographic piece where several sticks are put together to form something of a giant bird’s nest, made of pine trunks, clay, and bamboo. The outermost part of the circle seems to be made of pine trunks, with the second layer being made of bamboo, and the innermost part of the circle being made of clay, creating colors ranging from brown to green to yellowish-orange. The deeper one looks into the circle, the more it appears to be a pit of some kind, likely alluding to the fact that the deepest part of the nest, the clay, which is more man-made than the bamboo and pine trunks, might be some sort of contaminant. Another artwork of particular note is GRAVE-STONE, a piece depicting a bed of flowers buried in a shallow and seemingly stone grave surrounded by brown foliage. This is true except for the fern on the right of green color, almost reaching into the grave itself, almost as if it were mourning the loss of these flowers. The message of this artwork seems apparent in that it tries to communicate the sadness of the death of nature at the hands of men.

The artwork Udo makes in urban settings also has a lot to say and effectively reflects his philosophy on the importance of nature. LANDSCAPE WITH WATERFALL, taken in Brussels, Belgium depicts a structure made of wood designed to allow water to travel down, built against an apartment in Brussels. At the top and to the right of the structure exists a small tree, whose leaves wrap around and encroach on parts of the structure. This appears to immediately juxtapose with what appears to be a streetlamp embedded into the apartment building, jutting out of it on the left-hand side from the viewer’s perspective. This piece shows the juxtaposition that is the focus of Udo’s urban works and seems to ask the question, “what if nature and urban elements could coexist?” One can see the idea of this being illustrated when one pays attention to where the water is pouring down, as the wet area of the street appears to have foliage embedded into it, almost implying that the water is allowing plant life to grow in an urban environment. THE NEST, taken during the National Garden Show in Munich, Germany, depicts a similar idea to CLEMSON CLAY – NEST in that here, Udo has created a nest out of branches, only this time on a far larger scale, and with life seemingly existing in the center. Inside the circle of gigantic branches exist large eggs, a staple seen in many of Udo’s works, likely to sell the idea of a nest to viewers. This exhibit is set up in a public park event known as the National Garden Show, an event where several natural gardens are planted and shown almost in a museum-like fashion. Udo’s exhibit is different from the other garden pieces, however, in the sense that, aside from the branches, not much of this exhibit is natural or grown. Many people can be seen gathering around the exhibit to admire it, and this piece, thanks to its size, was likely meant to show Udo’s philosophies of wanting to preserve nature on a larger scale to a larger audience.

Annotated Bibliography

Nils Udo. Art for the Environment. (2016, June 2). Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://ecoartseurope.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/nils-udo/ 

Took information from this source to lay down a baseline of information about the artist.

Grande, J. K. (2011). Nils-Udo Interview by John K. Grande. Ecological Art. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://ecologicalart.org/nilsudo.html 

Used to get quotes from the artist himself describing his philosophy.

Udo, N. (2020, June 17). Nils-Udo. Nils Udo. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://www.nils-udo.com/?lang=en

This source was used to fill in specific details about artworks specified in the writing.