#1356 雨季的尼格罗之森 / The Flooded Forest of the Rio Negro

A Kingdom Fit for a King A beautifully designed environment for Altum Angelfish. The strictly diagonal arrangement of roots, running from the upper left to the lower right, strikes me as an appropriate, if slightly artificial, recreation of the natural habitat of these majestic fish. I do not find the two-dimensional nature of the design distracting. The fact that the roots on the right-hand side appear to have been added afterwards is barely noticeable, and the result is very convincing. What does concern me, however, is the stone formation, or rather, its height. In a composition of this relatively classic style, the horizon should ideally sit at the level of the two lower focal points, as can be seen quite clearly on the right-hand side of the image. The stone formation obscures around 90% of this horizon, causing it to be perceived instead at the level of the two upper focal points. As a result, the already elongated aquarium appears rather shallow, while the fish, with their predominantly vertical body shape, no longer stand out to their full potential. I find this particularly unfortunate, because conceptually, compositionally, and chromatically, all the elements of this layout work together beautifully. In my view, roughly two-thirds of the composition should have consisted of open water, with the aforementioned diagonal roots extending into it. The attractive stone formation would then have found its place in the lower third. Nevertheless, this work made a very positive impression on me, and I was pleased to include it in my personal top ten. Thank you for this beautiful piece of the Rio Negro!

— Frederic Fuß