Frank Höhle / Thilo Scheffler
13 Oct - 30 Nov 2007
Talents 09 . I would prefer not to
Frank Höhle / Thilo Scheffler
13.10. to 30.11.07
Postfuhramt
People in a neutral environment - expressionless, in relaxed posture and nondescript clothing, their gaze turned away from the viewer. What distinguishes these people? Where do they come from? What moves them? Like a detective, the viewer seeks tiny visual clues in the portraits to classify and interpret them but without success. Finding no foothold in isolated individual attributes or in hidden symbols or codes which simply are not there - the gaze is forced to glide off the surface of these photographs. The people portrayed resemble actors in a play without a script: empty, without any role to perform. The strangely still photographs do not refer to any concrete place or specific moment, and leave the viewer behind, bewildered. All he sees are pictures of people.
Traditionally, one expects a portrait to bring out the essence of the person portrayed by showing him or her in a characteristic pose and environment. In his photographs, Frank Höhle refuses to fulfill this expectation. By constructing the portrait along strictly formal lines, by reducing to an absolute minimum the abundance of signs that typically characterize photography, he deconstructs the condition of the portrait as historic subject. What remains is the connection or reference to some real existing person outside the picture. It is from this explicit referentiality that the portrait derives its authority, its presence, and its credibility, even more in photography than in painting. In the portrait series "I would prefer not to", Frank Höhle pursues the question of the expressive capacity of the photographic portrait and its possible interpretations, dealing in a specific way with the question of the relation between portrait and representation. For Frank Hï¿1⁄2hle, however, there is not the one true depiction.
In Partnership with Deutsche Börse Group
Supported by Goethe-Institut . Stiftung Zukunft Berlin . AV Tour . DruckConcept
Frank Höhle / Thilo Scheffler
13.10. to 30.11.07
Postfuhramt
People in a neutral environment - expressionless, in relaxed posture and nondescript clothing, their gaze turned away from the viewer. What distinguishes these people? Where do they come from? What moves them? Like a detective, the viewer seeks tiny visual clues in the portraits to classify and interpret them but without success. Finding no foothold in isolated individual attributes or in hidden symbols or codes which simply are not there - the gaze is forced to glide off the surface of these photographs. The people portrayed resemble actors in a play without a script: empty, without any role to perform. The strangely still photographs do not refer to any concrete place or specific moment, and leave the viewer behind, bewildered. All he sees are pictures of people.
Traditionally, one expects a portrait to bring out the essence of the person portrayed by showing him or her in a characteristic pose and environment. In his photographs, Frank Höhle refuses to fulfill this expectation. By constructing the portrait along strictly formal lines, by reducing to an absolute minimum the abundance of signs that typically characterize photography, he deconstructs the condition of the portrait as historic subject. What remains is the connection or reference to some real existing person outside the picture. It is from this explicit referentiality that the portrait derives its authority, its presence, and its credibility, even more in photography than in painting. In the portrait series "I would prefer not to", Frank Höhle pursues the question of the expressive capacity of the photographic portrait and its possible interpretations, dealing in a specific way with the question of the relation between portrait and representation. For Frank Hï¿1⁄2hle, however, there is not the one true depiction.
In Partnership with Deutsche Börse Group
Supported by Goethe-Institut . Stiftung Zukunft Berlin . AV Tour . DruckConcept