Category: Photography

Ist der ideale Mensch (be)messbar? Mit dieser Frage beschäftigt sich der Konzeptphotograph Paul Gisbrecht. Er stützt sich auf die in der Architektur mittlerweile als Standardwerk geltende ‘Bauentwurfslehre’ des Architekten Ernst Neufert (1939). Diese beschäftigt sich unter anderem mit der Messbarkeit des idealen Menschen in Bezug auf räumliche Größen. Bis heute gilt Neuferts Werk als grundlegendes Prinzip der standardisierten Raumkonstruktion.

Gisbrecht stellt diese inhaltliche Grundlage in Frage: Neufert überblende ‘jegliche Art des Individualismus und Autonomie des Designprozess’. Die Serie des Kölners ‘Menschliche Verdinglichung, oder Ernst Neuferts Definition des Raumes’ ist seine kritisch-visuelle Reaktion und Antwort. Seine Schwarz-Weiß Fotografien, die in diesem Jahr mit dem ‘Sony World Photography Award’ in der Kategorie Konzeptkunst ausgezeichnet wurden, beschreiben vordergründig alltägliche Szenen. Seitlich angebrachte ‘Messlatten’ sollen das Abgebildete berechenbar machen. Der Künstler kritisiert mit seiner Serie nicht nur den menschlichen Individualitätsraub, sondern auch die einhergehende Objektivierung eines jeden, unterliegen sie dem Versuch messbar gemacht zu werden.

All images © Paul Gisbrecht

German artist Monika Grzymala`s three-dimensional drawings are taking over the space. For her, drawing is visualized thinking. She is starting her works from scratch, developing huge installations made of black tape that seem to burst on the walls, taking over the gallery space. Grzymala creates vivid artworks that become accessible for the viewer and suggest new perspectives for a usually two-dimensional drawing.

All images © Monika Grzymala | Via: Crone Galerie

Esther Stockers Arbeiten entwickeln ein Eigenleben. Ihre Installationen aus geometrischen Formen, aus Raum und schwarz-weißen Kontrasten interagieren mit dem Betrachter. Er betritt das Kunstwerk und wird gleichzeitig Teil von ihm. In dieser veränderten, verfremdeten und ungewohnten Kulisse wird die menschliche Eigenschaft der absoluten Kontrolle in Frage gestellt. Stocker provoziert mit ihren Arbeiten optische Täuschungen und hinterlässt so einen Eindruck der Machtlosigkeit zwischen Realität und Illusion zu unterscheiden.

‘Stocker’s works provoke uncertainties in the viewer, putting their sense of control into constant doubt, via the perception ‘games’ in her paintings and in the space installations. It is not too far an extension to see a parallel between the Blanchotian author, who is powerless to shape or dominate their work – as a consequence of which the act of ‘creation’ is an illusion – and the man who thinks – equally illusorily – to have dominion over the world. The limit of man – Stocker teaches us – is his veil of certainty and control. As the artist herself asserts ‘Control is always what we do not have. This is the human condition.”

All images © Esther Stocker | Via: designboom

The stencil artist Kris Trappeniers from Belgium, creates fascinating portraits using only a scalpel and a single piece of paper. Initialy, he creates loose portraits on paper and then he cuts each paper-cut by hand with an X-acto. Afterwards he uses spray to paint them. The use of various line weights and the mixture of positive and negative space are the main elements of his art creating really vivacious images.

All images © Kris Trappeniers

Born in 1989, in Dunaujvaros, Hungary, now based in Budapest, photographer Mate Moro is visually arresting some of the most interesting editorials we have seen lately. One of his best is depicted in the series of yayoi kusama x louis vuitton for the room magazine.

Moro’s photographs have a clear sensual effect as any diary-alike that allows us to be the attestor of some very absurd conditions. Through his intriguing projects he also glimpses into our private lives. He has a thing for spaces. His pictures reflect on the relationship between the characters and the space around them, symbolizing the qrotesque nature of each location. It is all about the people becoming virtual accessories in their own living spaces. In other words, they are not the ones to form the environment but to be formed by it. He seems to believe that the environment that surrounds us has a strong presence which complements the story he is trying to project. From the paraphernalia he captures rather with a certain poignancy and attention to detail, we are more than keen to see more from him.

All images © Mate Moro

A fine art photographer living and working in Los Angeles, CA, Susan Swihart explores the idea of self, family, deep memories and connection to others in her works.

“It is a complex, but pure love for the person that was created at the same time.”
In her series ‘About Face‘, Swihart turns her lens to the phenomena of twins. A mother to twin sisters herself, she has been observing their special connection through years. “Sometimes two people start as one. They split apart, but continue to grow in parallel day by day, inch by inch. They develop separately and distinctly. Yet, to many, they will always look the same. Be treated as if they’re still one,” writes Swihart in her artist statement. The photographer set out to capture the similarities and differences of her daughters’ union, while observing the various emotions caused by constantly being seen as one. She adds: “It is a complex, but pure love for the person that was created at the same time. Head to toe in the womb. Side by side in life. And I want to be their witness and chronicle their unique journey into the world of individuals.”

Designed by architectural practice Platau, ‘Wadi Penthouse’ offers modern and minimalist space while providing the ‘wow’ effect with its continuous wooden walls.

Located in Beirut’s Wadi Abu Jamil district, the penthouse was refurbished to serve the family of four. As the original arrangement included poor solutions for the two-floor space, the most significant spatial intervention introduced a double height space at the center of the house, reorganizing the living and working areas around it. However, the biggest surprise in this interior is its clad wooden skin, showing within walls and stairs, and contributing to one continuous surface. In contrast to the wooden structures, the remaining parts of the penthouse are painted white, made in marble and steel, resulting in simple yet impressive space.

All images © Wissam Chaaya