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Capturing China without cliches
By Xu Wenwen |
May 29, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GERMAN photographer Candida Hofer known for her technically perfect pictures of people-less building interiors - famously opulent theaters and palaces - has turned her attention to China.
But here, too, she steers away from people, photographing interiors and taking closeups of familiar objects and scenes - an interior temple wall, a lace window curtain patterned with pagodas, the red fabric and wire patterns on a red lantern, but not the whole lantern. There's nothing cliched or typical about these images. They capture bits of everyday things, and they force viewers to reflect.
An exhibition of Hofer's diverse works, "Same Different, Different Same" includes her "Abstract Details" and "Asian Motives" series and will run from Saturday through June 28 at Contemporary Art Space gallery on Hefang Street in Hangzhou.
It's her first show on the Chinese mainland and it will be the first time the six-piece "Abstract Details" will be seen by the public.
"Those abstract images are first of all very concrete, and are parts of interiors," Hofer says. "They are a continuation of my project of calm and orderly contemplation and reflection on spaces. They invite a concentrated view on structure, order and beauty.
"I thought it appropriate to show 'Asian Motives' in China because the audience here is different from my usual European or American audiences, whom I fear would just concentrate on what was exotic to them," Hofer says.
"I am curious about the reaction of an audience to whom such images are part of everyday life, or at least part of everyday memories," she says.
Hofer's photos have been exhibited and collected by Le Louvre, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
The exhibition is being held in a small private gallery dedicated to promoting young artists.
"The gallery with a young audience without prejudices or preconceptions is an ideal place to see what these images do," Hofer says, adding that Hangzhou has a very long tradition of art and reflection on art.
Hofer has photographed great libraries, museums, theaters, opera houses and palaces of Europe, known for their opulence, as well as lesser known but equally ornate archives, theaters and reading rooms.
Born in 1944, Hofer is a daughter of a journalist and in 1968 she began working for newspapers as a portrait photographer. She became one of the first students of Bernd Becher (1931-2007), a German artist known for his photographs of industrial relics and industrial landscapes.
Hofer first photographed Turkish immigrant workers in Germany and when she was 35 she began taking color photographers of the interiors of public buildings, such as banks, offices and lobbies. She also photographed zoo animals. But there's no human presence in any of her works.
"I felt uncomfortable intruding into people's living sphere, and also I noticed people changed residences according to their needs and their understanding of beauty," she says. "And so I became interested in spaces, what they do for people and what people do for spaces."
Her photographers of empty interiors are large-format and capture what she calls the "psychology of social architecture."
"Spaces show their role more clearly if there are no people - spaces talk about people as we would talk about an absent guest at dinner," she says. "Maybe my work is making portraits of spaces."
At many exhibitions, the artist has overheard viewers wondering aloud what the room is and they saying they have seen it often but didn't recognize it. "Now I see it differently," she quotes people as saying.
"What more can you hope for as an artist," she asks.
The photos' color is deeply saturated and the detail is extraordinary. She never uses flash, only natural light or existing artificial light.
When there is very little light, she uses very long exposures, some lasting hours.
The digital processing of color and brightness is a crucial and often lengthy process to achieve the desired effects. She uses a Hasselblad for analog mode and a specialized Swiss camera for digital mode.
In her Asian series, she avoids prominent buildings and well-known exteriors. She avoids the traditional architectural motifs favored by many photographers, such as upturned swallowtail eaves and carved window frames. "I am not hunting for exotic impressions. I want to show what Chinese people experience as their historical environment every day," she says.
"I am fascinated by the old architecture and I like the colors and lighting of the spaces and the geometry of the objects displayed," she says.
Date: June 2-28 (Opening reception: June 2, 3pm)
Address: 465 Hefang St, Hangzhou
Tel: 0571-8702-3522
But here, too, she steers away from people, photographing interiors and taking closeups of familiar objects and scenes - an interior temple wall, a lace window curtain patterned with pagodas, the red fabric and wire patterns on a red lantern, but not the whole lantern. There's nothing cliched or typical about these images. They capture bits of everyday things, and they force viewers to reflect.
An exhibition of Hofer's diverse works, "Same Different, Different Same" includes her "Abstract Details" and "Asian Motives" series and will run from Saturday through June 28 at Contemporary Art Space gallery on Hefang Street in Hangzhou.
It's her first show on the Chinese mainland and it will be the first time the six-piece "Abstract Details" will be seen by the public.
"Those abstract images are first of all very concrete, and are parts of interiors," Hofer says. "They are a continuation of my project of calm and orderly contemplation and reflection on spaces. They invite a concentrated view on structure, order and beauty.
"I thought it appropriate to show 'Asian Motives' in China because the audience here is different from my usual European or American audiences, whom I fear would just concentrate on what was exotic to them," Hofer says.
"I am curious about the reaction of an audience to whom such images are part of everyday life, or at least part of everyday memories," she says.
Hofer's photos have been exhibited and collected by Le Louvre, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
The exhibition is being held in a small private gallery dedicated to promoting young artists.
"The gallery with a young audience without prejudices or preconceptions is an ideal place to see what these images do," Hofer says, adding that Hangzhou has a very long tradition of art and reflection on art.
Hofer has photographed great libraries, museums, theaters, opera houses and palaces of Europe, known for their opulence, as well as lesser known but equally ornate archives, theaters and reading rooms.
Born in 1944, Hofer is a daughter of a journalist and in 1968 she began working for newspapers as a portrait photographer. She became one of the first students of Bernd Becher (1931-2007), a German artist known for his photographs of industrial relics and industrial landscapes.
Hofer first photographed Turkish immigrant workers in Germany and when she was 35 she began taking color photographers of the interiors of public buildings, such as banks, offices and lobbies. She also photographed zoo animals. But there's no human presence in any of her works.
"I felt uncomfortable intruding into people's living sphere, and also I noticed people changed residences according to their needs and their understanding of beauty," she says. "And so I became interested in spaces, what they do for people and what people do for spaces."
Her photographers of empty interiors are large-format and capture what she calls the "psychology of social architecture."
"Spaces show their role more clearly if there are no people - spaces talk about people as we would talk about an absent guest at dinner," she says. "Maybe my work is making portraits of spaces."
At many exhibitions, the artist has overheard viewers wondering aloud what the room is and they saying they have seen it often but didn't recognize it. "Now I see it differently," she quotes people as saying.
"What more can you hope for as an artist," she asks.
The photos' color is deeply saturated and the detail is extraordinary. She never uses flash, only natural light or existing artificial light.
When there is very little light, she uses very long exposures, some lasting hours.
The digital processing of color and brightness is a crucial and often lengthy process to achieve the desired effects. She uses a Hasselblad for analog mode and a specialized Swiss camera for digital mode.
In her Asian series, she avoids prominent buildings and well-known exteriors. She avoids the traditional architectural motifs favored by many photographers, such as upturned swallowtail eaves and carved window frames. "I am not hunting for exotic impressions. I want to show what Chinese people experience as their historical environment every day," she says.
"I am fascinated by the old architecture and I like the colors and lighting of the spaces and the geometry of the objects displayed," she says.
Date: June 2-28 (Opening reception: June 2, 3pm)
Address: 465 Hefang St, Hangzhou
Tel: 0571-8702-3522
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