Vladimir Martynov, CHAOS AND STRUCTURES

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From the series "Structure", 2010 ©Vladimir Martynov

From the series "Structure", 2010 ©Vladimir Martynov

CHAOS AND STRUCTURES   
 State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography ROSPHOTO
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

Vladimir Martynov
 CHAOS AND STRUCTURES
 10 October – 17 November 2013
Yard Building exhibition hall, 2 floor
  ROSPHOTO. State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography
ul. Bolshaya Morskaya, 35   Saint-Petersburg 191186, Russia
office@rosphoto.org     www.rosphoto.org         ROSPHOTO
 
CHAOS AND STRUCTURES
 It is hardly worth to dispute the statement that one of the most notable results of foregone XX century and rapidly developing XXI century was the expansion of visual experience of humankind directly connected with the plastic arts. Previously unseen forms created by imagination freed from the mimetic tasks formerly ascribed to plastic arts, filled canvas and paper. Volumetric structures of unprecedented contours and shapes replaced sculptures in museums and private interiors, as well as public urban spaces. This was added up by all kinds of virtual structures on monitors and projection screens that often replaced tapestry and painting in exhibition spaces. New visual constructions do not necessarily spring from real-life experience of their creator, they can be the reflection of his imagination and embodiment of his most abstract or random thoughts. Mental images and mental forms of actual art ask for yet new methods of capturing and reproduction as well as new schemes of perception. The work of Vladimir Martynov is one of most convincing examples of the fruitfulness of introducing into familiar artistic context virtual phantoms that remain at the same time within the area of visual arts and thus further implement certain order in the plastic and formal chaos fraught with destruction.
This process, of course, is associated with inner complications. On the one hand, liberation of artist's visual experience leads to emergence of images unusual and sometimes unexpected in easel arts, which requires certain braveness and even preparedness to not being understood. On the other hand it is exactly this expansion of visual range that allows to accomplish new plastic structures. And, indeed, the results of Vladimir Martynov's artistic search would be less convincing were it not for his personal gift for creation of new visual forms. These forms are manifold, often flowing, opalescence, constantly moving, creating temporary color structures that exist in continuous metamorphosis.
Vladimir Martynov creates his works both in traditional painting or graphics and digital, virtual techniques. The forms created by the artist's imagination are manifold, revealing both paraphrase of certain natural prototypes and those that undoubtedly are the fruit of the mind of their creator. Indeed, the influence of the artist's architectural background is recognizable in his inclination to “project-oriented thinking”: his “projects” of sculptures, installations and whole exhibitions fully abide to the rules of 3D Max. With all that, even most complex structures to not seem overly sophisticated or completely Utopian for possible realization in real life. On the contrary, as they reveal undoubted talent to sculptural thinking, the viewer’s eye can – not only without constraint but even with visual delight – follow the flowing of one form into another and at times even mentally take part in their creation. This means, not to conceive any additional meanings or hidden subtexts, but rather to sympathize and imaginatively assist the soonest emergence of one or another plastic form-idea in its negotiation of the dominant chaos.
Essentially, Martynov tackles problems beyond the limits of practicability, let alone practicability designed by a computer's electronic brain. In that, the artist calls not only upon futurology, but upon historical experience, especially when turning to one of his favourite themes, the totem. These forms that human fantasy endues with magic powers receive new validity in his interpretation as the accent shifts from attempting to grasp the meaning hidden from the idle eye, to being able to appreciate the plastic exclusiveness and validity of mysterious object or group of objects.
Obviously, in creating new realities, new worlds inevitably reflecting his inner self and existing here and now, in a unique spaciotemporal continuum, Vladimir Martynov does not think of his creations as chromo-plastic exercise without an addressee but rather orientates them at human perception, notably the perception capable of co-creation.
By addressing his works primarily to contemporaries, by calling to their visual experience and creative fantasy, the artist does not aspire to reach beyond the limits of the future and make his creations a part of certain contemplative areas of futurology. He rather creates visual models of contemporary perception within the familiar limits of anthropocentric mind that aims to regulate the irregular and to structure the unstructured.
What we see is essentially the personal, hard one, plastic Utopia, attached to today's realities of the world with all its complexity and controversy. The ability to create Utopia is – starting as far as the Renaissance - the inseparable part of Humanistic model of the world. In our newborn century, being true to this model is, unfortunately, one of the rarest and therefore one of most valuable and imperishable life principles.
Andrey Tolstoy
Doctor of Art History full member of the Academy of Arts  Moscow, Russia

From the series "Structure", 2010 ©Vladimir Martynov

From the series "Structure", 2010 ©Vladimir Martynov

 VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH MARTYNOV
Born in 1959 in Novosibirsk, Russia. Studied in 1980-1986 at Novosibirsk Institute of Engineering and Construction, Faculty of Architecture.
Member of the Russian Union of Artists from 2003. Professor at the Chair of Graphics, Painting and Sculpture of Novosibirsk State Academy of Architecture and Arts. Currently lives and works in Novosibirsk, Russia.
 

Untitled, 2012 ©Vladimir Martynov

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Jacob Felländer . Pentimento

Pentimento Study #3, 2013
Unique pigment print with charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil
43 1/2 x 43 1/2 in.
© Jacob Felländer, courtesy Hamiltons Gallery, London

Jacob Felländer »  Pentimento
 26 September – 1 November 2013
 Hamiltons Gallery
13 Carlos Place, London W1K 2EU,  Tel: +44 (0)20 74999493  art@hamiltonsgallery.com ,   www.hamiltonsgallery.com     Tue – Fri 10am – 6pm, Sat 11am – 4pm    
 
Hamiltons is proud to present ‘Pentimento’ the inaugural London based exhibition of exclusive works by Swedish photographer, Jacob Felländer. The exhibition includes sixteen large format images, 110cm x 110cm, from Felländer’s latest project, marking a significant and exciting shift in his work with the introduction of drawing and painting - challenging their relationship with photography. Pentimento is defined as an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work: an original draft or under-painting that shows through with the use of infrared X-rays or when the top layer of paint has become transparent with age. “When is an image more a film than a photograph? When is a photograph more a painting than a photograph? The border territory fascinates me.”
Felländer uses ancient, rebuilt analogue cameras to multiexpose his negatives whilst simultaneously winding the film forward throughout the frame; allowing for time, space and perspective to drift. Paint and charcoal is applied for the first time in this body of work, highlighting the shapes and forms Felländer sees in the underlying exposures and bringing them to the surface; thus pentimento. He cites Turner, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Anselm Kiefer and Robert Frank as influences.

Pentimento Study #5, 2013
Unique pigment print with charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil
43 1/2 x 43 1/2 in.
© Jacob Felländer, courtesy Hamiltons Gallery, London

Recognised, to date, for his large kaleidoscopic photographs of landscapes and urban environments; Felländer has travelled the world with old, manipulated cameras taking hundreds of multiply exposed photos on the same role of film. In contrast to his previous work, however, the photographs in this exhibition were taken from the same hotel window in New York City. A recurring theme throughout Felländer’s photography is the notion of community and the human desire to live close, above/below/next door, to one another. In a world where more people choose to live in cities than countryside, Felländer refers to urban landscapes and their infrastructure as a source of influence and beauty. Not only, therefore, does this work challenge the boundaries between photography and painting/drawing, but the literal, physical boundaries of space. And time. A traditional photograph is a frozen moment in time captured in one place; by using multiexposed images Felländer captures several moments over a span of time in the same, or differing, locations. He cites Alfred Wegener’s theory of Continental Drift (1912) – the Earth’s continents were once joined and have, over time, drifted across the globe - as the prompt for his moment of artistic discovery: “I wondered, if space drifts over time, perhaps time can drift over space… In memories, we experience time drifting from a linear path and skipping moments. What moments do we actually remember and what would it look like in a photo?” Creativity, to Felländer, is a way to explore what he can be a part of if he sets his intellect aside, explaining that his work has evolved through making art rather than a development of conceived and processed ideas. “Where I want to go” he explains “my intellect cannot help me; only keep me in the world I already know.” One work of art opens doors to the next, and the only way Felländer sees he is able to reach his artistic pinnacle is to put layer upon layer, bypassing intellect which only serves to create anxious guidelines. When asked whether he sees himself more as an artist or photographer, Felländer’s answer is simple; that photography is art. “A photograph is a medium for art, like paint and marble… art is a verb, not a title.” Felländer is clear in explaining that he has chosen not to analyse or intellectualise his work any longer. “I’ve closed the door on all that. I have to be brave enough to let it be what it is, without explanation or justification; art can communicate what we don’t have words for.”
Born in 1974, Felländer studied fine art photography and graphic design at Flagler College, St Augustine, Florida and San Diego State University. He began experimenting with landscape photography in the late 1990s. Felländer has exhibited globally in both group and solo exhibitions, including Fotografiska Galleriet, Stockholm; The Maidstone Garden, NYC and Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm, amongst others. His work is held in a number of private collections, including that of Bill Clinton. For many years Felländer has donated works to UNICEF who sell them at auction for the benefit of children worldwide.

Pentimento Study #7, 2013
Unique pigment print with charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil
43 1/2 x 43 1/2 in.
© Jacob Felländer, courtesy Hamiltons Gallery, London

Pentimento Study #15, 2013
Unique pigment print with charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil
43 1/2 x 43 1/2 in.
© Jacob Felländer, courtesy Hamiltons Gallery, London

© 23 Sep 2013   photography-now.com
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Jeff Cowen. Photography

 Jeff Cowen: "Z-4", 2012, Silbergelatineabzug, Mischtechnik, Unikat, 46 x 31 cm
© Jeff Cowen, Berlin. Courtesy Galerie Michael Werner Märkisch Wilmersdorf, Köln & New York

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Jeff Cowen
 Photography
 7 September – 26 October 2013
 Opening reception: Friday 6 September, 6 – 9pm
 Michael Werner Kunsthandel,  Gertrudenstr. 24-28 . 50667 Cologne
contactcologne@michaelwerner.de.   www.michaelwerner.de   
Tue-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm    
Michael Werner Kunsthandel   
  
The Michael Werner Kunsthandel will be presenting new works by Jeff Cowen in the exhibition PHOTOGRAPHY. The artist’s first exhibition in the gallery at the beginning of 2012 provided an overview of his oeuvre over the past 10 years. This new show concentrates on Cowen’s aesthetic approach, which is growing influence in his recent work.
Cowen is interested in photography not as a technical means of archiving visual input, but rather for its artistic potential as a medium. From the outset, photography was characterized largely by its portrayal of reality in contrast to art-forms such as drawing, painting and sculpture. This documentary aspect of photography represents both its artistic potential and its creative limitation. Cowen, however, treats photography as a vehicle for painting, and thereby creates images that are radically different to the style dominant in photographic art. The artist uses the chemicals in his dark-room like a painter uses colour, developing the compositions and allowing for processes outside his direct control. The pictures evolve over a period of weeks or months and the results are not pre-determined. Cowen’s collages and abstractions, in particular, demonstrate a wide range of creative possibilities, which has largely been ignored in the art of photography. He uses elements of collage to overlap and paint over his images in order to create an artistic expression, far removed from the traditional sphere of photography that deals with the portrayal of people objects and landscapes.
   

Jeff Cowen: "Yuki", 2005, Silbergelatineabzug, Ed. 6, 178 x 127 cm
© Jeff Cowen, Berlin. Courtesy Galerie Michael Werner Märkisch Wilmersdorf, Köln & New York

The exhibition catalogue includes a text by Klaus Honnef.

Εκθεση φωτογραφιας: Μανολης Κασιματης. φωτο-γραφιζοντας μουσικους/Manolis Kasimatis fotografare musicanti

Μανώλης Κασιμάτης
φωτο-γραφιζοντας μουσικους

ZEIDOROS art space,  KARSALI  BAY  KYTHERA

 

Εκθεση Φωτογραφιας

Opening night party:  Sunday 1st of September at 21.00
Duration of exhibition:  01/9-10/9/2013
Visiting hours: 20.30-00.30
www.zeidoros.gr
www.manolokasimatis.gr

 

HAREM OF THE HEART. SAMIRA HODAEI

SAMIRA HODAEI: The beloved in the water 150 x 100 cm, 2013
mixed media on canvas

Samira Hodaei  
HAREM OF THE HEART
 6th – 22nd September, 2013
The Exhibition takes place at Gallery Aquabit in Augustsraße 35, Berlin-Mitte
  Venue: AQUABIT Gallery  Auguststrasse 35, 10119 Berlin
AB GALLERY Luzern Arealstr. 6, CH-Luzern
office@ab-gallery.com    www.ab-gallery.com  

SAMIRA HODAEI: Dancing the sharp Edge, Incomplete courage! 2012
mixed media on canvas, 150 x 100 cm

 
   
 The works of the Iranian artist Samira Hodaei remind the viewer of writings of Persian poetry. Haunting, double-edged, rich in symbolism and complexity. But clearly the most distinctive feature of the artist’s oeuvre is to be found in her unusual technique. Samira Hodaei applies meticulously tiny dots of glass paint to the canvas millimeter for millimeter that are based on photographies. For her installation, which is on display at the Aquabit Gallery, she has translated this technique into a three-dimensional form of expression.
The subject of the installation, which she has created especially for the gallery, relates to both mystical and earthly love. In her view, these should not be seen as separate entities, but, instead, as parts linked a unison. In the middle of the first room of the installation we find a mosque made out of prayer beads. However, the focus of Samira Hodaei’s work is not concerned with religion but rather with the symbolism of the architectural elements. She interprets the minaret as representing the masculine form and the dome as the feminine, whilst the geometrical panels surrounding them are intended to depict love stories. Samira Hodaei sees the prayer beads as symbolizing the give and take of love relationships - the memories, to which we cling in the belief that these will bring us closer to our beloved, though in reality they act as obstacles. The only way to overcome them and, having done so, to achieve true, mystical love is, in the artist’s eyes, through working on ones innermost self. The choice of colors she applies to the painting is by no means random. She has deliberately selected colors that reflect her critical commentary on the social attitudes towards love in her country. By painting the panels black Samira wishes to demonstrate that in Iranian society bodily love is regarded as immoral, while her use of red is designed to indicate that any form of physical interaction with a woman during menstruation is – to this very day - considered sinful.
To enter the second room, the visitor has to pass through a beaded curtain representing a female figure. Samira Hodaei refers to this representation as "The Creator, The Sacred Female, Mother Nature", a powerful figure that is both loved and feared. Here, one has to draw back the beaded curtain - just as one would with a veil - in order to reach the next stage of the installation. This is Samira Hodaei’s way of demonstrating the symbolic act of opening up the soul to the Sufi path of spiritual orientation. In Islam, this requires the soul to pass through seven stages of development, though the ultimate goals - the ecstasy of love and enlightenment - are familiar to all kinds of mystic movements. And so the installation ends with a room that serves as a metaphor for the final stage of spiritual development – in keeping with the Arab saying that "the metaphor is the bridge to truth".
 Samira Hodaei was born in Tehran in 1981. She studied at both the Shahrivar Art School and Shariaati Art University as well as Alzahra Art University in Tehran. On completing her studies, she worked for six years as assistant to the internationally acclaimed artist Reza Derakshani. In 2010, she was invited to work in Switzerland as part of the Artist In Residence program of the Oryx Foundation. The works of the artist have been on show in exhibitions in Switzerland, Qatar, Australia, Turkey, Germany and at art fairs such as those in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Her work "Endless" was selected for showing at the Funsasaka-Osaka Biennale in Japan in the autumn of 2012. Samira Hodaei lives and works in Tehran.
The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with kunstundhelden (Berlin) and AB Gallery (Lucerne/Zurich).   www.ab-gallery.com,   www.kunstundhelden.de
 

SAMIRA HODAEI: Dancing the sharp Edge, Virtual Dance, 2013
mixed media on canvas, 224 x 145 cm

Paradox Ethereal Magazine 01

Issue 01 - Release Date 1st September 2013

After eight years of absence PARADOX ETHEREAL comes back taking the form of a digital magazine. The artists presented, the personalities mentioned and the ideas, or tendencies, conveyed are strictly selected to spread the ideas of AESTHETICISM, ROMANTICISM and TRANSCENDENTALISM. Enjoy this collective project, comprised of a universal language, the language of IMAGINATION.

Figures Studied 10th Anniversary Group Exhibition

Kamil Vojnar: Sleeps, 2013, 30x30x1”, Mixed media on canvas, Edition of 2

Figures Studied

10th Anniversary Group Exhibition




















 VERVE Gallery of Photography
219 East Marcy Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
+1.505.982.5009
info@vervegallery.com
www.vervegallery.com 
 
VERVE Gallery of Photography is pleased to present a group exhibition, Figures Studied, showcasing the works of VERVE gallery artists. In the fall of 2012 our gallery artists, many of whom have been with us for a decade, were invited to submit work for VERVE’s 10th anniversary exhibition. We titled the exhibition Figures Studied. Our artists were invited to interpret the show’s title as they wished. They were not given any additional instructions. Throughout this last month we have opened their submissions with great excitement and joy. The work in this exhibition is as creative and as varied as are our artists.
VERVE Gallery of Photography is located in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico just two blocks north east of the Main Plaza at 219 East Marcy Street. VERVE is housed in an early 20th century freestanding cottage extensively renovated so as to show off the foremost in contemporary fine art photography. The gallery spaces include a large main exhibition hall which houses the current exhibition and a smaller gallery room dedicated to showing complementary selected works by VERVE's artists.

VERVE, established in 2003, has a well earned reputation of being the leading purveyor of every genre of contemporary fine art photography. Verve’s artists are worldwide and so are VERVE’S patrons. All of VERVE’S artists are at work creating in documentary, figure studies, still life, landscape, conceptual, experimental, photomontage, and alternative process photography. VERVE has developed an innovative and unique concept for exhibiting fine art photography. A state of the art computer system enables visitors to browse each artist's portfolio online. Patrons can also peruse VERVE's entire inventory of artist portfolios on a large LCD monitor in the gallery. This concept benefits and serves patrons, artists and the gallery. Patrons are able to view an entire body of work and inspect work in inventory comfortably and effortlessly, while artists are not required to consign an entire body of work to the gallery. VERVE is able to provide access to entire portfolios online on the Internet. The portfolios are stored electronically in VERVE's database, thereby allowing the gallery to utilize its gallery spaces more efficiently.

Charbonneau / French: The Looking Glass - from the Massillon Series, 2006
29.25x29.25”, Chromogenic C-Print Mounted to Dibond, Edition of 7

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Hanno Otten. BOULEVARD

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Boulevard No12 © Hanno Otten

Boulevard No15 © Hanno Otten

 Hanno Otten
4 April – 11 May 2013
Janet Borden, Inc.
560 Broadway, Suite 601 New York NY 10012  T +1-212-4310166
mail@janetbordeninc.com   www.janetbordeninc.com Tue-Sat 11am-5pm     Prom

  Janet Borden Is pleased to announce a new exhibition, BOULEVARD, by the German artist HANNO OTTEN. This is Otten’s fifth exhibition at the gallery, and it continues his visual discourse on the nature of color. Pure vivid color is Otten’s language. In these photograms and photographs, Otten literally dissects color photography and uses the individual elements to create unique images. Lush bands of color comprise the Boulevard Section. These are complemented by Otten's elegantly composed unique photograms, or Lichtbilder (Light Pictures). Otten’s new work continues to explore the abstract, with new approaches and refinements. These photographs embrace a more organic and personal approach to photography than in his previous studies. Once again he manipulates color and light to create a modern palette of vivid hues. As in his earlier work, Otten insists on the primacy of color, forgoing any literal or narrative imagery.
  

© Hanno Otten

 Hanno Otten was born in 1954, and lives in Cologne, Germany. His work has been exhibited worldwide, in such locations as Leipzig, Cologne, Los Angeles, and New York. He is also known for sculpture and installation pieces, which are also available through the gallery.  

Boulevard No10 © Hanno Otten

© 2 Apr 2013 photography-now.com
Ziegelstr. 29 . D–10117 Berlin    Editor: Claudia Stein & Michael Steinke

DADA - dada.am

DADA is more than just a gallery.
DADA consolidates and streamlines all the tools visual artists need to easily manage their portfolios, share their creative vision and connect with clients and collaborators through their trusted networks.

ΜΑΝΙΦΕΣΤΟ/MANIFESTO

DADA is POWER TO THE ARTISTS!
We believe that artists have the potential to effect positive change in the world through art.
But to do so, artists need to thrive as individuals and as a community.
DADA was envisioned by an artist for artists, with the goal of creating a vibrant creative community where artists can share their individual visions and connect with each other for the common good.
DADA is much more than a showcase or a social network for artists. DADA is a space where artists can play, explore, inspire, get inspiration and organize themselves and other artists to gain more individual and collective power. DADA is free and fun.
DADA has many useful practical features which help artists easily manage their resources and contacts so they can have more time to create. DADA gives a voice and a space to all talented artists who need to reach an audience and make a buck. DADA encourages change by creating offsite activities about important issues where artists can create and give back to the community at large.
DADA’s aim is to create connected communities of talented people across many artistic disciplines. It will start with visual artists, but soon musicians, writers, architects, filmmakers will all have a home in DADA and will be able to enrich themselves with the contributions of their peers in every art form as well as their own.
Do you DADA?
http://dada.am/

The Fantastic Five.Algis Griscevicius » Peter Konschake » Tomasz Myjak » Walter Schels » Heinz Teufel »

   photography-now.com    eNews 
 
The Fantastic Five
Algis Griscevicius » Peter Konschake » Tomasz Myjak » Walter Schels » Heinz Teufel »

Tomasz Myjak

   





















18 January – 16 March 2013
Galerie STP
Lange Str. 21 . 17489 Greifswald     Germany   +49 (0)3834 899 448
info@galerie-stp.de     www.galerie-stp.de  
Tue-Fri 1-6pm, Sat 11am-3pm

Under the title "The Fantastic Five" five artists are shown, which are characterized by an especially fanciful realization of there topics.With it they have very different subjekts, techniques and they all follow very different statements.
Heinz Teufels
 photographs are the result of years of dealing with the laws of human existence and its relation to the laws of nature. With the term "Gestural Photography" he describes his findings in photography.
The images of the Lithuanian photographer and painter Algis Griskevicius
 include elements of Lithuanian mythology. He has developed his own visual language, which is unique.
Walter Schels
 shows his new, as he calls "kitsch pictures" that operate the Cliché in an impressive way.
The Polish photographer and painter Tomasz Myjak
 shows photographs of the series "The Screaming Pope". There are new interpretations of the paintings from Francis Bacon, who painted 60 years ago images of Innocent X, which were before painted by Diego Velazquez.
With "Moonrise" Peter Konschake
 has created photographs of dream worlds, which tell us about various human emotions and dreams.

 Heinz Teufel: "Gestische Photography"

Peter Konschake

Walter Schels

Jan 2013 photography-now.com
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Editor: Claudia Stein & Michael Steinke
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Victor Schrager. Composition as Explanation

photography-now.com

 Victor Schrager 
Composition as Explanation
 10 January – 2 March 2013
 

"Untitled #86", 2004
© Victor Schrager / Courtesy of Galerie Edwynn Houk, Zürich

"Untitled #84", 2004
© Victor Schrager / Courtesy of Galerie Edwynn Houk, Zürich

Galerie Edwynn Houk
Stockerstr. 33, 8002 Zurich  Switzerland
zuerich@houkgallery.com         www.houkgallery.com   
Tue-Fri 11am-6pm . Sat 11am-5pm    
 
Composition as Explanation
Galerie Edwynn Houk is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by Victor Schrager (American, b. 1950) from the artist's ongoing series, Composition as Explanation. This is the artist's first exhibition in Zürich.
A master of still-life photography and widely revered for his images of birds and everyday objects, Victor Schrager embraces modernism while rethinking its components to create something new. Over the past twenty-five years, books have been a main element in Schrager’s photographs. In his ongoing project, Composition as Explanation, he has focused on the book itself, using its color and shape in a purely aestheticized context. Pages are not revealed, titles are not seen: the ultimate symbol of intellectual investigation has been reduced to form.
Using a very shallow depth of field, careful lighting and composition, Schrager produces partially abstracted images of luminous planes that meet sometimes sharp, descriptive edges. There is a mild and appealing irony in the way these bearers of very particular information turn into nondescript shapes, as well as in this dissolution of the predictably solid into vaporous fields of color. But it is precisely those same seductive colors and surfaces, those mysterious forms and spaces that belie the layers of meaning. “The books are as necessary and irrelevant as Morandi’s pitchers, Stieglitz’ clouds, Cezanne’s fruit, Weston’s peppers, or Penn’s frozen food,” writes Schrager. And further, “The real purpose in making these pictures is addressing the box of space that sits in front of me, and seeing if it is once again possible to pull a compelling picture out of it; again and again, until the activity transcends the environment in which it takes place. Everything is surrendered to the visual.”
A Harvard graduate, Victor Schrager is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the MacDowell Colony Resident Fellowship, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. His work has been featured in numerous one person and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His photographs are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Center for Creative Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Polaroid International Collection, The International Center of Photography, and The San Francisco Museum of Art. He currently lives and works in New York City.
 

"Untitled #90", 2005
© Victor Schrager / Courtesy of Galerie Edwynn Houk, Zürich

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