Elfie Semotan
22 Apr - 22 May 2010
ELFIE SEMOTAN
April 22 - May 22, 2010
For her first exhibition at Galerie Gisela Capitain, Elfie Semotan has chosen to exhibit portraits of Artists and the studios where they work.
Semotan's view of the scene varies in each photograph, depending on the subject. In some, the Artist she is photographing is evidently reacting to her presence and the tension is palpable. One has a sense of the immediacy of the moment. In other images, the subject seems to be looking on to the scene, an unreacting observer.
Included in the exhibition are five large-scale photographs, images which Semotan took casually in some of her subjects' studios. These are works which came about more by chance than design and they reconstruct a space without a protagonist. However, in spite of their impromptu nature and lack of a human subject, they still constitute a part of Semotan's portraiture of these Artists and their environments.
Elfie Semotan grew up in Vienna and started her career as a classical photography model, before becoming a professional photographer herself, for fashion and advertising. Throughout her career, portraiture has been a major focus in her work.
Since the outset of her practice, Semotan has crossed boundaries between genres, such as with her work for the 'Palmers' advertising campaign of the late 1970s, which became notorious at the time for provoking conservative society, as well as the still-nascent Womens' Movement.
The conceptual ideas behind Semotan's advertising and fashion photography have always strongly influenced her work as an Artist and her engagement with contemporary Art is a crucial constant in her work.
April 22 - May 22, 2010
For her first exhibition at Galerie Gisela Capitain, Elfie Semotan has chosen to exhibit portraits of Artists and the studios where they work.
Semotan's view of the scene varies in each photograph, depending on the subject. In some, the Artist she is photographing is evidently reacting to her presence and the tension is palpable. One has a sense of the immediacy of the moment. In other images, the subject seems to be looking on to the scene, an unreacting observer.
Included in the exhibition are five large-scale photographs, images which Semotan took casually in some of her subjects' studios. These are works which came about more by chance than design and they reconstruct a space without a protagonist. However, in spite of their impromptu nature and lack of a human subject, they still constitute a part of Semotan's portraiture of these Artists and their environments.
Elfie Semotan grew up in Vienna and started her career as a classical photography model, before becoming a professional photographer herself, for fashion and advertising. Throughout her career, portraiture has been a major focus in her work.
Since the outset of her practice, Semotan has crossed boundaries between genres, such as with her work for the 'Palmers' advertising campaign of the late 1970s, which became notorious at the time for provoking conservative society, as well as the still-nascent Womens' Movement.
The conceptual ideas behind Semotan's advertising and fashion photography have always strongly influenced her work as an Artist and her engagement with contemporary Art is a crucial constant in her work.