Nature Morte. 2010-11

Karl Blossfeldt began to create a systematic, photographic documentation of a wide range of plant species in 1898. His aim was to depict nature’s myriad of forms, which he understood as art’s primal forms and thus as the archetype of every design. Today’s visual world is far more complex. A second, digital layer has been added to the already existing physical, analogue environment. In this digital layer, objects can be freely edited and combined. The present work will address the issue of the additional abundant pool of form and texture components. The work, called “Nature Morte”, is an attempt to transfer the typological, object-related photography into today’s world by means of digital image technology. The image series is a pseudo documentary imaging of non-existent sculptural-like objects. The work examines the possible tension between form and structure. CGI offers the possibility to edit the object’s form and surface texture independently of each other and to bring them into a new, unconventional relation. All images are entirely computer-generated. The body shapes and textures displayed are either made-up or composed of fragments found in 3D-model libraries, which by now, can easily be accessed on the Internet. The main focus of the work does not lie on the meticulous reproduction of photographic images; rather, it lies on the question of the reception of photographic images, the relation between appearance and reality, truth and arrangement.