Land Under or Submerged Earth, the title of Marlon Wobst’s new exhibition finds its roots in what happens when strong storms occasionally submerse some lands. Figuratively and much like the English term “overwhelm,” Landunter conveys the idea of being snowed under, the feeling of an overflow.
Marlon Wobst had gotten us used to somewhat light-hearted titles —Plouf, Platsch, Splash !, L’Oasi, Relax… With Landunter, he suggests that not everything goes swimmingly. And yet, in many works, people play, swim, jump, sunbathe, or lounge in a sauna.
Undoubtedly, this land under refers to the planet which we navigate, and whose current issues —be it on climate, geopolitics, or human relationships— could be likened to a vessel of questionable watertightness. In turn, this state of things affects human beings, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, swamped. How should we react? How should we cope with this overflow? Watching Marlon Wobst’s works, the characters seem to mostly be enjoying themselves and looking for escapism. […]

Marlon Wobst does something with the human figure that no one else has ever done before.
In his completely original way, he makes every one of his personages amiable, relaxed, and amusing to behold. Oh of course one could mention the work of several of Wobst’s contemporaries where there is a slight resemblance of approach in the deliberate playfulness and informality, in the way of declaring “this is a nearly abstract form that resembles a figure, that reiterates the ideas of head and chest and limbs while it is the opposite of a traditional reproduction of a person, of the sort of facsimile of an actual human being in the manner of academic art going back ad infinitum,” to certain other artists, many quite famous, at work today. Or, more relevantly, one could note parallels to the pictures of certain modern masters: Nicolas De Staël, Jan Müller, and Milton Avery quickly come to mind. But there is something different going on here. It is as if, with every image, the artist is clearly taking delight. He is palpably amused by what he sees, and so are we. Yet there is also a sense of fleeting time, and occasionally of danger; what is cheerful is also, if not exactly sinister, then emotionally complicated. […]