ROLLS-ROYCE HOSTS KARL LAGERFELD PHOTOGRAPHY

Posted on 2012-11-26

Besides his work as a fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld has extensively pursued his passion for photography since 1987. His images have been shown in several international exhibitions, from the Langen Foundation in Neuss, to the Museum del Bramante Cloister in Rome.

His latest work explores a fascination with textures, surfaces, shapes and abstractions that transcend his highly acclaimed position in the fashion world. Photography provides an ideal platform from which to appreciate the finest of details and facilitates the juxtaposition of automobile, light and nature. Lagerfeld’s exhibition explores these themes by connecting and contrasting the forms visible before the camera and shaping a different view.

Talking about the exhibition, Mr Lagerfeld said, “I can no longer view life without juxtaposing its abstraction. I view the world, fashion and automobiles through my camera lens. That allows me to keep a critical distance to my work. This approach serves me more than I had ever thought possible in my view of reality. Each of my shots of the Rolls-Royce is the abstract representation of a concrete reality. The technical medium of photography is a welcome means for my artistic work, creating my different view.”

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd
Stane Street
Goodwood
Chichester
PO18 0SH

www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

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FAKING IT – PHOTOGRAPHY BEFORE PHOTOSHOP

Posted on 2012-11-26

The urge to modify camera images is as old as photography itself – only the methods have changed. Nearly every type of manipulation we now associate with digital photography was also part of the medium’s pre-digital repertoire: smoothing away wrinkles, slimming waistlines, adding people to a scene (or removing them) – even fabricating events that never took place.

This international loan exhibition traces the history of manipulated photography from the 1840s through the early 1990s, when the computer replaced manual techniques as the dominant means of doctoring photographs. Most of the two hundred pictures on view were altered after the negative was exposed – through photomontage, combination printing, overpainting, retouching, or, as is often the case, a blend of several processes. In every instance, the final image differs significantly from what stood before the camera at any given moment.

Whether modified in the service of art, politics, news, entertainment, or commerce, the pictures featured in the exhibition adopt the seamlessly realistic appearance of conventional photographs. They aim to convince the eye, even if the mind rebels at the scenarios they conjure, such as a woman bathing in a glass of champagne or a man brandishing his own severed head.

Opposite – Untitled, Jerry N. Uelsmann, 1976

Exhibition runs through till January 27th, 2013

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
99 Margaret Corbin Drive
New York
NY
10040

www.metmuseum.org

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JOE MALONEY – SOME PICTURES

Posted on 2012-11-26

Although Joe Maloney’s work remains largely unknown to a greater public, he is one of the most important members of the group of artists who belong to the artistic movement called “New Color Photography.” Based on the exhibition title “The New Color,” an exhibition project by Sally Eauclaire at The International Center of Photography, New York in 1981, the term “New Color Photography” has become a recognized part of the art-historical canon. It describes exactly the sort of photography where artists deliberately use color as a form of artistic expression.

In his work, Maloney deals foremost with the perception of reality. The gradation of color plays a decisive role in this process. It is achieved through different exposure times and also partially by making use of a conversion filter. Both means are part of a greater artistic strategy, by which Maloney achieves to set himself apart from the historical and classical themes of advertising and amateur photography. Exposure times that can be several minutes long and the use of artificial light film for outdoor photography make it almost impossible for the viewer to determine the time of day at which Maloney has captured the moment, such as in “O’dells Spring Creek, Montana.” By using a conversion filter, Maloney furthermore achieves a color intensity and artificiality in his photographs, which emanate an air of the surreal. It is exactly at this point where Maloney’s artistic credo revels itself to the viewer. Like no other artist of his generation, Maloney counteracts the notion of reality by way of deliberate modification through color.

Opposite – East Branch, Delaware River, NY, 1989

Exhibition runs through till January 5th, 2013

Kai Heinze Berlin
Charlottenstraße 2
10969 Berlin
Germany

www.kaiheinzeberlin.com

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