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.