THE SONIC BLOG Fotografie ist Kunst | Photography is Art

The theme of the exhibition “Deep Light” at Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven in 2006 was not black-and-white photography, but rather how black is used in colour and black-and-white photography. The investigation of black serves as a point of departure for a dialogue on artistic positions that encompasses portraiture, landscapes, and images of the sky. Artists included: Zofia Kulik, Peter Schloer, Michael Schnabel, Adam Thompson and Ingolf Timpner.

The catalogue of the exhibition can be downloaded here (2 MB PDF).

I would like to highlight the classic portrait work of Ingolf Timpner (page 74-92 within the PDF).

“Werner Bischof Classics” are shown at the Suermondt-Ludwig museum in Aachen. The exhibition offers an entire look over the work of Werner Bischof, the well known Swiss photographer, a member of MAGNUM in the fifties, one of the classics of black and white photography today.

The exhibition portrays the chief landmarks in Werner Bischof’s artistic work and the successive stages in a career which led him from studio photographer to committed photo journalist. It was as one of the earliest members of the Magnum group of photographers that he won international acclaim.

=> Werner Bischof @ Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum – 06. Mai 2007

German artist Florian Böhm photographs passersby on the streets of Manhattan, catching them in slow motion as they wait for walk: motionless, lost in thought, or deep in conversation, staring at nothing or sidetracked with a cell phone held to their ear.
Böhm’s conceptual series of portraits relies primarily on chance. The selection of people, the spontaneous groupings, and the moment in which the photograph is taken is not controlled by a premeditated staging, but rather orchestrated by the rhythm of traffic regulations.

On the occasion of the competition “gute aussichten: young German photographers”, which currently starts for the fourth time, I did an interview with the photographer Regine Petersen. Her series “Das Haar” (The Hair) was one of the selected works last year.

Peter F. (PF): Regine, du sagst, dass du beim Fotografieren assoziativ vorgehst und viele Bilder im eigentlichen Sinne des Wortes ‘findest’. Gibst Du dabei Grundthemen vor, die einen roten Faden bilden, oder ist dir die Reaktion auf ein gefundenes Motiv wichtiger, finden die Themen Dich?

Regine Petersen (RP): Das ist ein ganz natürlicher Prozess, der sich in guten Phasen in einem Fluss befindet. Ich reagiere ja auf ein bestimmtes Motiv, weil es in irgendeiner Form meine eigenen Erfahrungen anspricht und sich mit meinen Gedanken und Gefühlen verbindet. Diese können vordergründig oder verborgen sein. Das Gesehene wirft etwas zurück und gibt mir die Möglichkeit einer neuen Sichtweise. Es findet sozusagen ein Austausch vom Innen und Außen statt, durch den dann etwas Neues entsteht.

PF: Deine Arbeiten sind sehr emotional und von einer großen Offenheit geprägt. Wie wirkt sich das auf Deinen Arbeitsprozess aus? Wenn Du Porträts (teil)inszenierst, findet dann ein lebendiger Austausch mit dem Gegenüber statt, oder arrangierst du eher zurückhaltend deine eigenen Vorstellungen?

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It is hard to name what is so special on Alessandra Sanguinetti’s work. In her photography there is a contradiction of cruel and tenderness. Alessandra Sanguinetti succeeds to unify these extremes, but the final reconciliation is always refused.
In result there is a strange enchantment within Sanguinetti’s visual world that provokes a strong emotional response in the viewer.

Her early series “Sweet expectations” examines children’s reflection on adult life in intense black and white images.

“In this portrait series I am attempting to capture the moments and attitudes that reflect the advent of behaviour and gestures of children that, to the adult, might seem borrowed, but that the children experience as their own. I focus on that border just before puberty, when the child glimpses the contradictions of the adult world.” Alessandra Sanguinetti

On her father’s farm in Argentina, where she summered as a child, Alessandra Sanguinetti produced a colour series entitled “On the Sixth Day”. The series is about relationship of humans with nature.

“As I became more involved, I became less judgmental, and more open to the subtleties and complexities of our relationship with animals and how they reflect on us.” A. S.

While working on “On the Sixth Day” she first met Guille and Belinda whose families lived and worked in this rural area. The cousins were ten and nine years old when Sanguinetti started to photograph them. Alessandra Sanguinetti documented the transformations of these girls as they matured into adults. The achievement was the series “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams”.

“I have attempted to interpret the ending of their childhood by entering their imaginary spaces. The time when their dreams, fantasies, and fears would fuse seamlessly with real day-to-day life are ending and the photographs I have made intend to crystallize this rapidly disappearing very personal and free space.” A. S.

Don’t miss Alessandra Sanguinetti’s pictures taken in Palestine at ArteEast.
Here are some articles about her work: “Sweet expectations” at ZoneZero, “On the Sixth Day” at PopPhoto and “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda” at Light Work.

Alessandra Sanguinetti currently lives in New York. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and a Hasselblad Foundation grant. Her photographs are in major public and private collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her book “On the Sixth Day” was published by Nazraeli Press in 2006.

During the last week the Rhineland was stuffed with modern art.

The traditional “Art Cologne” (April 18-22) presented 180 modern and contemporary galleries in the city’s modern convention center and had 60.000 visitors

Duesseldorf just launched its own art fair, the “DC Duesseldorf Contemporary“, at nearly the same time (April 19-22). The show featured an international line-up of 85 galleries, presenting art from 1980-2007, and had 23.000 visitors.

My personal highlighs have been the digital transformed work of Julia Peirone, I recently mentioned her name in this weblog, and the well-known Australian artist Pat Brassington with her surreal series “Cambridge Road”.

Last weekend I joined the “Art Cologne“, a fair for modern and contemporary art. Beside many other stuff I saw some nice work of Chinese Photographers.
“Art Scene China“, a gallery specialized in emerging and well-established contemporary art by Chinese artists, presented works of Wang Ningde and Zhu Hao.

Many other artists on the “Art Scene China” homepage are worth a look as well. For example Jiao Jian, Cao Youtao and Miao Jiaxin.
 

Letztes Wochenende besuchte ich die “Art Cologne“, eine bekannte Messe für zeitgenössische Kunst. Unter anderem gab es spannende Arbeiten von chinesischen Künstlern zu sehen.
“Art Scene China“, eine Galerie, die sich auf zeitgenössische Kunst aus China spezialisiert hat, zeigte arbeiten von Wang Ningde und Zhu Hao.

Wang Ningde zeigt poetische Bilder in Schwarzweiß. In seinem Projekt „some days“ erscheinen die Abgebildeten immer mit geschlossenen Augen oder wenden sich von der Kamera ab. Seine Arbeit behandelt Themen wie Erinnerung, Identität and Vergänglichkeit.

Zhu Hao zeigt farbige Ansichten von Stadtlandschaften. Sein Blick richtet sich auf die Magie des scheinbar Nebensächlichen, die Lebendigkeit und Eigenleben des urbanen Raumes aufzeigt.

Auch viele andere Künstler auf der “Art Scene China” Webseite sind einen Blick wert. Zum Beispiel Jiao Jian, Cao Youtao und Miao Jiaxin.

The NRW Forum in Duesseldorf will host an exhibition of Mario Testino large format photographs titled “Out of Fashion’” It will portray about 40 photographs of Madonna, Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law as well as a choice of work done for Gucci, Vogue and Vanity Fair.

=> Mario Testino @ NRW-Forum Düsseldorf – 17. Mai 2007

David Goldblatt’s photographic projects are all occupied with the people, the work, the social constellations and the constructed and natural spaces of South Africa. With the retrospective “David Goldblatt – South African Photographs 1952-2006″, the Fotomuseum Winterthur pays tribute to the photographic work of Goldblatt.

David Goldblatt (*1930 in Randfontein), as an exemplary documentary photographer, has explored the violent, conflict-torn history of his country, constantly focusing on the political and sociological development of South African society, the social disunity and the turbulent political events during apartheid.

=> David Goldblatt @ Fotomuseum Winterthur – 20.05.2007