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More Thoughts
Anselm Kiefer said: ‘There is nothing in Art.’ - this is an ideal starting position for ‘Art’, as there is nothing there to prove. Nothing to beat. All the space is left for the expression. And within that nothingness such richness of opportunity.
There is no wish to provoke, surprise, admonish etc. Just the archetypal urge to communicate, but not with everybody and at any cost. It also does not necessarily have to be for the chosen few, but rather for a few cursed ones.
Probably well over ninety percent of people who will happen to look at this publication will not comprehend much, if anything. Similarly to a language spoken by only one tribe, the chances of having a chat in one’s native tongue far away from home are desperately low.
Of best known photographers speaking a similar language, or perhaps even dialect, to mine, I could mention Eugene Atget, Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Paul Caponigro, Stephen Shore (in alphabetical order).
Aestheticizing the banal, although much better than aestheticizing violence, runs the risk of ending up as decorative art when deprived of an underlying idea, motive or drift.
Leaving politics to politicians, history to historians, psychology to psychologists, psychiatry to psychiatrists, philosophy to philosophers, the occult to shamans - this work deals with the visual aspect of the conscious and subconscious. It is a search for certain images subtly engraved in my mind, maybe the archetype. The photographs end up being a mirror where I can look at my mind’s inner sanctum at leisure, get to know it, analyse it and perhaps get even (or ever?) further
More often than not in my images horizontal lines dominate the composition, seeming to reflect the state of a part of my mind. The subconscious? Why are some people attracted to verticals while others prefer horizontals? This dichotomy is now irrelevant for my work and an equal presence, not to say balance, of these two aspects has been reached; yet, it is still the horizontals that will catch my eye first.
The absence of fear of death could perhaps explain the horizontal dominance, but not in a simplistic or geometrical matter. It may well be that not being afraid of death makes me treat it as just one option in life. Subconsciously that may then translate itself into an attraction for a resting place.
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