Bernard Voïta
16 Jan - 20 Mar 2010
BERNARD VOÏTA
Recent Works
16 January – 20 March 2010
After a series of international exhibitions (e.g., in Kunsthalle Zurich, Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and in Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna), the Swiss artist Bernard Voïta (*1960, Cully) is for the third time presenting a series of his current works at Galerie Bob van Orsouw.
Over the past years Bernard Voïta has worked almost exclusively in the medium of photography, although the way he does so is often compared to sculpture. In his work he challenges the medium’s boundaries and its imputations and sounds out its potential as well as questions of perception. Out of simple found objects, Voïta constructs three-dimensional models in his atelier, which he, in a second step, records with his camera. His works do not picture an out-there reality, but an arranged-by-the-artist, complex sculptural design that finds culmination in its photographic depiction. Thus images arise that allude to modernist architecture and city landscapes, or to arrangements and patterns that border on abstraction.
These, via the composition, utilize the medium’s own effects, such as depth of field and the loss of real dimensions. The perspectivally arranged objects together conform to one plane.
Which objects and arrangements are represented behind the images is no longer discernible to the eyes of the beholder. It is in the photograph itself that a meaningful dimension of the installation first gets composed into something new.
In the series Paysages ahah on exhibit here, Voïta has expanded his finishing techniques by adding the element of color. Using a special inkjet process, he prints onto the reverse side of the framing glass an actual landscape motif, which is placed over the photo of a constructed model. Via this superposition of two images and according to the angle and the way the light falls, an optical effect of depth results, heightened by luminous transparent colors and cast shadows. If his earlier works centered on photography’s constructive potential and possibilities for defamiliarization, in this work series Voïta has introduced a new level that is rooted in the context of a painting discourse. By superimposing the virtual and the real motifs, these undergo abstraction and merge into a new picture that takes on painting-like features. The ensuing effect is reflected in the ha-ha concept of the title (French: ahah), which is the name of a design element in 18th century English landscape gardening. The term cites the onomatopoeic expression of astonishment and defines the central element of design that broke with the geometric severity of French Baroque gardens. Instead of having a clear demarcation, gardens are separated from surrounding nature by moats or walled ditches that are invisible from a distance. Via this sleight of hand, the natural landscape that lies beyond is merged with the garden, making it seem larger; not till you approach closer can you recognize the optical illusion. The different levels of reality, the outside and inside, dissolve and together shift to a virtual union. The, at first glance, perfect picture deludes the senses and, at a second glance, comes together out of overlaps and fragments. Voïta in this way continues the discourse on perception, illusion and the possibility of constructing reality, which is inherent in his work.
Judith Welter
Vernissage in the presence of the artist: Friday, 15 January 2010, 6 to 8 pm.
Recent Works
16 January – 20 March 2010
After a series of international exhibitions (e.g., in Kunsthalle Zurich, Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and in Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna), the Swiss artist Bernard Voïta (*1960, Cully) is for the third time presenting a series of his current works at Galerie Bob van Orsouw.
Over the past years Bernard Voïta has worked almost exclusively in the medium of photography, although the way he does so is often compared to sculpture. In his work he challenges the medium’s boundaries and its imputations and sounds out its potential as well as questions of perception. Out of simple found objects, Voïta constructs three-dimensional models in his atelier, which he, in a second step, records with his camera. His works do not picture an out-there reality, but an arranged-by-the-artist, complex sculptural design that finds culmination in its photographic depiction. Thus images arise that allude to modernist architecture and city landscapes, or to arrangements and patterns that border on abstraction.
These, via the composition, utilize the medium’s own effects, such as depth of field and the loss of real dimensions. The perspectivally arranged objects together conform to one plane.
Which objects and arrangements are represented behind the images is no longer discernible to the eyes of the beholder. It is in the photograph itself that a meaningful dimension of the installation first gets composed into something new.
In the series Paysages ahah on exhibit here, Voïta has expanded his finishing techniques by adding the element of color. Using a special inkjet process, he prints onto the reverse side of the framing glass an actual landscape motif, which is placed over the photo of a constructed model. Via this superposition of two images and according to the angle and the way the light falls, an optical effect of depth results, heightened by luminous transparent colors and cast shadows. If his earlier works centered on photography’s constructive potential and possibilities for defamiliarization, in this work series Voïta has introduced a new level that is rooted in the context of a painting discourse. By superimposing the virtual and the real motifs, these undergo abstraction and merge into a new picture that takes on painting-like features. The ensuing effect is reflected in the ha-ha concept of the title (French: ahah), which is the name of a design element in 18th century English landscape gardening. The term cites the onomatopoeic expression of astonishment and defines the central element of design that broke with the geometric severity of French Baroque gardens. Instead of having a clear demarcation, gardens are separated from surrounding nature by moats or walled ditches that are invisible from a distance. Via this sleight of hand, the natural landscape that lies beyond is merged with the garden, making it seem larger; not till you approach closer can you recognize the optical illusion. The different levels of reality, the outside and inside, dissolve and together shift to a virtual union. The, at first glance, perfect picture deludes the senses and, at a second glance, comes together out of overlaps and fragments. Voïta in this way continues the discourse on perception, illusion and the possibility of constructing reality, which is inherent in his work.
Judith Welter
Vernissage in the presence of the artist: Friday, 15 January 2010, 6 to 8 pm.