If you go to Jutland, to the place where I was born, and continue approximately 150 km. north, you will arrive at Rubjerg. Krass Clement did that. And he did it in November. A tough experience for anyone…
At first sight “Novemberrejse” (“November journey”) is right at the spot. Windy streets. A bus to nowhere. An empty gas station. People, hiding away in their houses. All in the usual, nonchalant style of Krass Clement. As good, old Cartier Bresson said: sharpness is a bourgeois concept. Atmosphere before formal composition.
There is plenty of atmosphere in “Novemberrejse”. But on a second thought: what kind of atmosphere? Is it always dark and windy in Jutland? Is everybody who lives there either grumpy or kitschy? Is it only the children, who don’t know better, that can smile?
Krass Clements pictures are not lying. They are frightfully true. But they are not the whole truth either. That’s how art is. There are some shots in “Novemberrejse” which, to my mind, borders on the cliché. But there are even more, that are sensitive and explorative. And for that reason evokes both curiosity and complex feelings. Maybe there are more to life in Jutland than meets the eye?
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