«Minimal? Abstrakt? Konkret? Generativ?» Ausstellungsrundgang mit Gottfried Jäger und Christina Végh Dóra Maurer und Gottfried Jäger teilen das Interesse an der Konkreten Fotografie, wie Beispiele von beiden in der aktuellen Ausstellung und der Sammlungspräsentation Gottfried Jäger und die Direktorin der Kunsthalle Bielefeld Christina Végh über die unterschiedlichen, im Titel genannten Begriffe.
Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is pleased to announce, “Intersection of Color,” German photographer Gottfried Jäger’s second exhibition with the gallery, showcasing a selection of his color works from the 1960s to the early 2000s, from September 25th to November 27th, 2021.
An opening will be held tomorrow, Saturday September 25th from 3 to 6:30 PM. Please click here to RSVP and confirm your attendance.
For the occasion, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is publishing “Intersection of Color”, the first monograph of Jäger’s color works, bringing together different approaches to photographic color formation the artist experimented for sixty years. The monograph includes essays by Lyle Rexer and Bernd Stiegler and an interview with Gottfried Jäger by Corinne Tapia, director of Sous Les Etoiles Gallery. The book comes in a limited edition of 100 copies, numbered and signed by Gottfried Jäger.
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In Jäger’s words, “The objective of my work is to induce a generative effect: to constantly provoke an endless generation of new forms and elements in a continuous process of renewal and rebirth. What is intended is not a standstill, but the image of an exchange, its infiltration, and its conversion.”
From the iconic Polarizations, the Luminograms and the Multiple Optics series, the show will include some never exhibited pieces, and a selection of silver gelatin prints. For more information please contact us at info@souslesetoilesgallery.net
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EVENTS AROUND GOTTFRIED JÄGER AND THE EXHIBITION INTERSECTION OF COLOR
NEW YORK, USA - SOUS LES ETOILES GALLERY• Thursday October 7th, starting at 6PM, talk with Lyle Rexer, author of the introduction of the book, Intersection of Color, and Corinne Tapia, director of Sous Les Etoiles Gallery. Lyle Rexer is an independent scholar and curator. He has written numerous books and catalogs on art and photography, including Photography’s Antiquarian Avantgarde (2002), How to Look at Outsider Art (2005), and The Edge of Vision (2009). His work has appeared in many periodicals, including Aperture, Art in America, Art on Paper, photograph, and The New York Times. Please contact the gallery to confirm your attendance at info@souslesetoilesgallery.net• Saturday October 16th, at 4 PM, Walk Through of the exhibition: Spots are limited to 12 people. Please contact the gallery to confirm your attendance at info@souslesetoilesgallery.net
PARIS, FRANCE, SOUS LES ETOILES GALLERY AT PARIS PHOTO NOV 11-14, 2021• Wednesday November 10that 6PM, Preview booth A4 Solo Show dedicated to Gottfried Jäger• Friday November 12that 1PM, Presentation of the Deluxe Edition of Intersection of Color book, which includes a backlite print with a size of 12 x 9 inches / 30 x 24 cm numbered and signed by Gottfried Jäger. Edition limited to 10 copies.
Obwohl die Fotografie bereits 1839 patentiert und daher als „erfunden“ gilt, ist die künstlerische Form dieses Bildmediums erst seit den neunziger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts wirklich in den internationalen Museen und den Ausstellungshäusern angekommen. Im Blick zurück schien dabei der mittlerweile legendäre Essay „Kleine Geschichte der Photographie“ (1931) von Walter Benjamin eine erste Orientierung innerhalb der Vielfalt fotografischer Positionen zu bieten. Ohne dem Modell einer klassischen Chronologie zu folgen, kommt Benjamin in seinem wirkmächtigen Aufsatz in nicht gerade systematischer Form auf wichtige Kategorien und auch Positionen der frühen modernen Fotografie zu sprechen. Wie aber lässt sich nun die neuere Geschichte – oder besser gesagt: die Geschichten – der Fotografie im Anschluss an Benjamin (1892 – 1940) begreifen?
Die auf mehrere Teile projektierte Ausstellungsreihe des Sprengel Museum Hannover versucht eine Antwort und stellt entscheidende Motive der weiteren Entwicklung in der neueren Fotografie-Geschichte im Kontext der Kunst vor. Dabei geht es um eine quantitativ reduzierte, dafür aber inhaltlich konzentrierte Gegenüberstellung von Fotografien, die zusammengenommen ein Glossar zentraler Begriffe der Fotografie-Geschichte vor Augen führen. Dieses Glossar suggeriert eine Systematik, die jedoch betontermaßen unvollständig bleibt. Die Idee einer Totalität oder gar einer (historischen) Logik wird nicht verfolgt. Klassische Themen des Mediums wie „Abstraktion“, „Blick“ oder „Reproduktion“ spielen in dieser ersten Ausstellung ebenso eine Rolle wie weniger ästhetisch vorbelastete Begriffe, beispielsweise „Weiblicher Körper“ oder „Bewegung“. Exemplarisch werden Arbeiten von Ed Ruscha, Barbara Kasten, Andreas Gursky, VALIE EXPORT, Lynda Benglis, Sherrie Levine, Giuseppe Penone, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Ruff, Gottfried Jäger und anderen zu sehen sein
LONDON – A major new exhibition opening May 2 at Tate Modern will reveal the intertwined stories of photography and abstract art. “Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art” will be the first show of this scale to explore photography in relation to the development of abstraction, from the early experiments of the 1910s to the digital innovations of the 21st century. Featuring over 300 works by more than 100 artists, the exhibition will explore the history of abstract photography side-by-side with iconic paintings and sculptures.
“Shape of Light” will place moments of radical innovation in photographywithin the wider context of abstract art, such as Alvin Langdon Coburn’s pioneering “vortographs” from 1917. This relationship between media will be explored through the juxtaposition of works by painters and photographers, such as cubist works by George Braque and Pierre Dubreuil or the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Otto Steinert’s “luminograms.”
Abstractions from the human body associated with surrealism will include André Kertesz’s Distortions, Imogen Cunningham’s Trianglesand Bill Brandt’s Baie des Anges, Frances 1958, exhibited together with a major painting by Joan Miró. Elsewhere the focus will be on artists whose practice spans diverse media, such as László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray.
The exhibition will also acknowledge the impact of MoMA’s landmark photography exhibition of 1960, “The Sense of Abstraction.” Installation photographs of this pioneering show will be displayed with some of the works originally featured in the exhibition, including important works by Edward Weston, Aaron Siskind and a series by Man Ray that has not been exhibited since the MoMA show, 58 years ago.
The connections between breakthroughs in photography and new techniques in painting will be examined, with rooms devoted to Op Art and Kinetic Art from the 1960s, featuring striking paintings by Bridget Riley and installations of key photographic works from the era by artists including Floris Neussis and Gottfried Jaeger.Rooms will also be dedicated to the minimal and conceptual practices of the 1970s and ’80s. The exhibition will culminate in a series of new works by contemporary artists, Tony Cairns, Maya Rochat and Daisuke Yokota, exploring photography and abstraction today.
Sponsored by Hyundai Card, “Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art” will run through Oct. 14.
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London, TATE MODERN, 2. Mai - 14. Oktober 2018
image.png185 KB How photographers responded and contributed to the invention of abstract art
The birth of abstract art and the invention of photography were both defining moments in modern visual culture, but these two stories are often told separately. Shape of Light is the first major exhibition to explore the relationship between the two, spanning the century from the 1910s to the present day. It brings to life the innovation and originality of photographers over this period, and shows how they responded and contributed to the development of abstraction. Key vintage prints are brought together from pioneers like Paul Strand, László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray, as well as lesser-known experimental works and those of contemporary artists such as Barbara Kasten and Thomas Ruff. Their work is shown alongside abstract paintings, sculptures and installations by major figures in abstract art, from Georges Braque and Jackson Pollock to Carl Andre and Bridget Riley.
Part of the exhibition: Gottfried Jäger, Lochblendenstrukturen, 1967
Licht, Schatten und Chemie
Fotografie ohne Kamera
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Kilian Breier, Pierre Cordier, Esther Hagenmaier, Karl Martin Holzhäuser, Roger Humbert, Gottfried Jäger, Floris M. Neusüss, Wendy Paton , Jack Sal, Luigi Veronesi
14.01. bis 16.02.2017
Eröffnung am 14.01.2017 von 19.00 – 21.30 Uhr
Öffnungszeiten: 17.01. - 16.02.2017: jeden Di. - Fr. 16 - 19 Uhr, Sa. 11 - 18 Uhr
Licht, Schatten und Chemie
Das Licht ist die wichtigste Voraussetzung für jedes fotografische Bild und entsprechend im Namen des Mediums manifest. Licht und Schatten waren und sind aber nie nur Voraussetzung für das endgültige Bild, sondern immer auch eine Herausforderung.
In dieser Ausstellung der in focus Galerie geht es um Fotografie ohne Kamera – gestern und heute. Es ist „pure“ Fotografie, basierend auf dem ureigenen Prinzip von Licht und lichtempfindlichem Träger. Das Licht steht als Akteur im Mittelpunkt. Es spielt sowohl eine ideelle als auch formgebende Rolle: das Licht als Phänomen, als Kontrast zur Dunkelheit, als Thema und Motiv, sein Einfluss und seine unmittelbaren Auswirkungen auf Gegenstände und die verwendeten Materialien.
Es ist der Moment des Zufalls, der für das Fotogramm, Luminogramm und Chemigramm gleichermaßen konstitutiv ist. Beim Verfertigen des Fotogramms sieht sein Schöpfer ausschließlich jene Seite der Objekte, die keine Spuren hinterlassen werden, bei Luminogrammen – operiert er zwar mit den Lichtquellen, ohne aber deren Wirkung im einzelnen abschätzen zu können und bei den Chemigrammen gestaltet - neben den Eingriffen des Künstlers - das Zusammenspiel von verschiedenen Chemikalien auf lichtempfindlichem Papier das Bild.
Die ausdrucksstarken und faszinierenden Unikate entstehen nach zahlreichen Versuchen und aufgrund der langjährigen Erfahrung aller in dieser Ausstellung vertretenen Künstler. Die in der Ausstellung „Licht, Schatten und Chemie“ vertretenen Künstler, die alle über viele Jahre ihren eigenen künstlerischen Weg beschreiten, können durchaus als die maßgeblichen Vertreter der zeitgenössischen Fotogramm-, Luminogramm- und Chemigrammkunst gelten.
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Gottfried Jäger „... entdeckt das Fotogramm als Möglichkeit, um nicht nur die Avantgarden im allgemeinen und Moholy-Nagy im besonderen ästhetisch-theoretisch zu erkunden, sondern zurück bis zu den Anfängen der Fotografie zu gehen, dies aber mit der klaren Intention, das, was dort zum Bild wurde, nun zur intellektuellen Anschauung zu machen. ... Die Welt der Fotografie wird in ihre elementaren Einheiten zerlegt und dann neu montiert und in Serien übersetzt, die regelrechte experimentelle Versuchsreihen darstellen. Die Fotografie bleibt in diesem Durchgang nicht dieselbe, sondern steht am Ende verwandelt da: ein technisch-ästhetisch- intellektuelles Wunderland der Bilder, die doch ganz konkret sind. Sie sind Fotografien der Fotografie. Die Fotografie ist wieder zu einem Kosmos geworden und führt uns eine neu geordnete und anders konfigurierte Welt vor Augen. Die Fotografie wird nun im Wortsinn zur theoria, zur Anschauung. Sie zeigt uns eine andere Welt, ja ist eine andere Welt. “ (aus Bernd Stiegler, Gottfried Jäger: Der Fotograf der Fotografie – Laudatio zur Verleihung des Kulturpreises 2014 der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh), Berlin, 7. März, 2014) Gottfried Jäger (geboren 1937 in Deutschland) wird als einer der bedeutendsten Vertreter der deutschen Fotografie gesehen. Von 1973-2002 war er Professor an der Fachhochschule (FH) Bielefeld im Bereich Kunst tätig. Seine Tätigkeiten als Professor und seine grundlegenden Bücher über Abstrakte / Generative Fotografie bis zur Konkreten Fotografie schufen das theoretische Fundament für dieses spezielle Genre innerhalb der Kunst mit dem Medium Fotografie. Jägers Arbeiten können in vielen Sammlungen weltweit gesichtet werden, z.B. in der Sammlung des George Eastman House, Rochester; im Sprengel Museum, Hannover; im Museum Ludwig, Köln; in der Sammlung Peter C. Ruppert im Museum Würzburg; im Museum Folkwang, Essen; im Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, München; im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; in der Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Jäger lebt und arbeitet in Deutschland.
Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is pleased to present “big nothing,” a group show curated by British abstract photographer Richard Caldicott featuring the work of photographers Nina Brauhauser, Ellen Carey, Luuk de Haan, Karl Martin Holzhäuser, Gottfried Jäger and Erin O’ Keefe. The exhibition is the first US show since 1990 to feature the work of Holzhäuser alongside German compatriot Jäger, both longtime correspondents and collaborators, and the first-ever exhibition of Ellen Carey’s Zerogram photograms and paper negatives
“Titled from a series of works by Luuk de Haan, this exhibition explores the area of alternative abstract photographic practices,” writes Richard Caldicott. Highlighting in turns the creative use of the movement of light, as well as the mathematical lyricism and vast pictorial possibilities of generative and concrete photography, this assembly of photographs is a demonstration of the sensitive relationship between photographer and photographic technique.
Caldicott continues: “Luuk de Haan’s work explores the boundaries between ‘form and formlessness, organic and inorganic, to be or not to be.’ Erin O’Keefe’s Things as They Are series questions the nature of spatial perception using the strategies and knowledge of an architect. The works by Karl Martin Holzhäuser and Gottfried Jäger show the astonishingly rich history of photography as constant experiment, of light as material and the photograph as a concrete and generative object. Reducing photography to new sculptural forms and wall objects, Nina Brauhauser creates ambiguities between 2-dimensional chromogenic prints and 3-dimensional space. Ellen Carey’s unique photograms from 1998-99 again show the rich depth of experimental photography, albeit from a more visceral and process driven perspective. These are all artists that pursue a series of work with intensity of infinite variations and modifications, all with a shared concern of the interplay between colour and perception.”
Nina Brauhauser, b. 1980 in Düsseldorf, studied photography at Folkwang University of the Arts (Essen) and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (Netherlands). Her photographs have appeared in numerous gallery and museum exhibitions across Europe, including at Städtisches Museum Kalkar; Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg; Galerie Schütte, Essen; FFFZ Kulturforum Düsseldorf; Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin; Galerie Christa Burger, München; and Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, among several others. In 2013 Brauhauser participated in Bushwich Open Studios, and in 2012 was awarded “Förderpreis Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW.”
Ellen Carey, b. 1952 in New York, is an educator, independent scholar, guest curator, photographer and lens-based artist, whose unique, one-of-a-kind experimental work spans several decades. Carey has worked in a variety of cameras and formats, including Polaroid SX-70 and Polaroid PN film; b/w to color; 35mm, medium and large format. Her work has appeared in seminal exhibitions alongside the work of Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Dwyer, and Robert Mapplethorpe, and has been the subject of 53 one-person exhibitions. Her work is in the permanent collections of over twenty photography and art museums, including George Eastman House, Rochester; Fogg Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; and most recently, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. “Self in Polaroid,” Be-hold’s current exhibition in Yonkers, NY, features for the first time Carey’s Stopping Down polaroid self portraits.
Luuk de Haan, b. 1964 in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, explores historical techniques wherein camera movement and light sources, designed in advance, as well as contemporary tools like software and digital drawing, determine shape and composition. Recent exhibitions of the artist’s work include group shows “Bergen Geestgrond,” “Inspiratie-kunst, kennis en natuur” and “Silence out Loud” (curated by Joost Zwagerman) at Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen; “Blind Date II” at Dapiran Art Project Space, Utrecht; and “Ways of the Imagination” at Witteveen Visual Art Centre, Amsterdam. A forthcoming group show with Richard Caldicott also opens in June at DIEHL CUBE, Berlin. Besides his photographic work, Luuk de Haan also composes music.
Karl Martin Holzhäuser, b. 1944 in Germany, is one of the earliest champions of Concrete Photography. Today, Holzhäuser has returned to the roots of his chosen artistic medium, creating a new genre in the field of cameraless photography that combines the stringency of premeditated instructions with elements of calculated chance. Calling this work “Lichtmalerei” or “painting with light,” Holzhäuser works completely in the dark, following a predevised “score” of the movement of light from memory, and allowing for extemporaneous adjustments by hand. The work of Karl Martin Holzhäuser can be found in the collections of the Museum für Kunst und Geschichte, Freiburg; The Artothek Kunstverein, Bielefeld; the photographic collections of the cities of Leinfelden and Detmold; Marburger Kunstverein, Marburg; the Peter C. Ruppert Collection at The Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg; and the Schupmann Collection, among others.
Gottfried Jäger, b. 1937 in Germany, is now recognized as one of the greatest names in German photography. Jäger has said that he has tried to produce a “photograph of photography.” His work was recently the subject of a major exhibition at Steven Kasher Gallery, titled “Gottfried Jäger: A Photograph of Photography,” which was the first show in the US since 1995 to feature Jäger’s work and the first retrospective of the photographer outside of Europe. In 2014, Jäger won the Cultural Award from the German Society for Photography, a prize that some of the most eminent photographers have also been awarded. Jäger’s work is held in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House, Rochester; the Sprengel Museum, Hannover; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Ruppert Collection, Museum Würzburg; the Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. He currently lives and works in Germany, where he also serves at the photography advisor for the Peter C. Ruppert Concrete Art in Europe museum collection.
Erin O’Keefe, b. 1962 in Bronxville, NY, is a visual artist and an architect. Her work explores both the specific properties of photography and many of the material and theoretical concerns of architecture. She received her Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Cornell University. She is in conversation with a lineage of photographers from Florence Henri to Barbara Kasten to contemporaries who are also examining photography on an elemental level specific to the digital age. She was recently named one of Photo District News’ “30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch,” and she has been reviewed or featured in The New Yorker, Collector Daily, Huffington Post, and Paper Journal.
Richard Caldicott, b. 1962, has continually challenged photographic codes of representation in favor of new aesthetic and symbolic intentions. Employing traditional analog photography methods, Caldicott imbues his minimalist set of components with rich, vibrant color. The result is stunningly beautiful abstract work that is both self-contained and part of a larger dialogue, with nods to iconic minimalism, Color Field paintings, and pop reappropriation. His work has been acquired in several significant public and private collections, including the Peter C. Ruppert Collection at The Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg; Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas; Goldman Sachs International, London; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Sir Elton John Collection, Los Angeles/London; Gert Elfering Collection, Miami; and Fidelity Worldwide Investment, London, among others. A forthcoming group show with Luuk de Haan opens in June at DIEHL CUBE, Berlin.
Ausstellung Kunstmuseum Bochum, 21. Mai – 17. Juli 2016
Das autonome Bild.
Fünf Konzepte aktueller Fotografie:
Maria Böhm – Jan Paul Evers – Christiane Feser – Stefan Heyne – Gottfried Jäger
Kurator Sepp Hiekisch-Picard
Die Ausstellung zeigt fünf Vertreter einer Fotoauffassung, die der Abbildhaftigkeit ihres Mediums mit Skepsis begegnen. Sie betreiben in ihren fotografischen Arbeiten eine radikale Verunsicherung. Allzu schnelle Gewissheiten, feste Überzeugungen und Sehgewohnheiten im Zusammenhang mit dem fotografischen Medium werden von ihnen ins Wanken gebracht. Mit Mitteln der abstrakten und der konkreten Kunst enttarnen sie den vermeintlichen Realitätsbezug der Fotografie. Das Foto ist somit zunächst nicht mehr als ein reines Bild – ein semiotisches Geflecht aus Licht und Schatten, aus Fluchten und Formen, aus Hell und Dunkel.
Gottfried Jägers Arbeiten und Schriften markieren eine der wichtigsten und nachhaltigsten Neubestimmungen der Fotografie der letzten fünfzig Jahre. Konsequent verwandelte er bereits existierende Formen der Abstraktion in eine radikale Befragung des medialen Charakters der Fotografie und führte diese zur konkreten und zur generativen Fotografie. Die Fotografie wird nun zu ihrem eigenen Gegenstand und die von ihr erzeugten Bilder sind Erkundungen der Grenzen und Möglichkeiten der Fotografie als solcher: Sie wird Fotografie der Fotografie. Dabei beschritt er immer zwei Wege: Seine fotografischen Arbeiten waren durchweg begleitet durch ebenso scharfsinnige und materialreiche wie programmatische Texte. Gottfried Jäger wurde für sein Werk 2014 mit dem renommierten Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie ausgezeichnet. Seine Schriften zur Fotografie erscheinen nun in ihrer ganzen Breite zusammen mit zahlreichen Dokumenten aus der Werkstatt.
Paris Photo 2015
Rückblick auf die am 14. November vorzeitig beendete „Paris Photo“ 2015 mit dem Stand der Zürcher Galerie Scheublein + Bak mit Arbeiten von Gottfried Jäger.
The Steven Kasher Gallery is proud to announce a major exhibition, Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography. The exhibition features 99 photographs made from the 1960s until the present. This is the first exhibition in the United States since 1995 to present Jäger’s work and the first retrospective of the photographer outside of Europe. Since the beginning of the 60s, Jäger has been investigating topics at the heart of a worldwide resurgence of contemporary “abstract” photographic practices. He may be considered as the precursor of the new generation of photographers working in conceptual approaches to the medium, photographers including James Welling, Walid Beshty, Liz Deschennes, Marco Breuer and others.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography
Exhibition: April 14th - June 4th, 2016
Opening Reception: April 14th, 2016, 6-8 PM
The Steven Kasher Gallery is proud to announce a major exhibition, Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography. The exhibition features 121 photographs made from the 1960s until the present. This is the first exhibition in the United States since 1995 to feature Jäger’s work and the first retrospective of the photographer outside of Europe. Since the beginning of the 60s, Jäger has been investigating topics at the heart of a worldwide resurgence of contemporary “abstract” photographic practices. He may be considered as the precursor of the new generation of photographers working in conceptual approaches to the medium, photographers including James Welling, Walid Beshty, Liz Deschennes, Marco Breuer and others.
After more than fifty years of production, Gottfried Jäger (born in 1937) is now recognized as one of the greatest names in German photography. In 2014, he won the Cultural Award from the German Society for Photography, a prize award to the most eminent photographers, including Stephen Shore (2010), Wolfgang Tillmans (2009), Ed Ruscha (2006), David Hockney (1997), Man Ray (1966), August Sander (1961), and Albert Renger-Patzsch (1960). This prize crowned Jäger as an eminent photographer, and also singled out his work as a distinguished photo theorist and photo historian.
Jäger says he has tried to produce a “photograph of photography”. As he explained in 1981, “the image is the concretion of the technique from where it appears. Technique is art.” Each of his series investigates the specificity of different photographic techniques. To cite some examples, Jäger explores the camera obscura with the Pinhole_Structures_series of 1967-1973, the photogram with the Gradation series of 1983, and the computer-generated photo-images in the Mosaics of 1995. The series Snapshots of 2003-2008 tries to reproduce the camera-generated Pinhole Structures from the sixties through a computer program, but both are different. The computer fails to mimic what the camera can produce. The main interest of Jäger is to show that each technique creates its own visibility. So, Jäger does not claim to represent “external” reality. His work “is just photography, and nothing else.”
Jäger has a methodical, mathematical approach to photography. His photographs focus on seriality, the logic of machines, and a precisely controlled and repeatable process. These structure-based images are created using programs that make explicit reference to computer programs. They work with signs, a defined program, and the random possibilities given by the program. Jäger’s early programmatic approach to photography has established him as one of the first generation of computer artists. His work was included in some of the most iconic exhibitions around technological and computer art of the 1960s: Experiments in Art and Technology at the Brooklyn Museum, (1968); New Tendencies in Zagreb (1969); and the exhibitions On the Path to Computer Art that were shown in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, France, and England between 1970 and 1976.
Jäger’s concepts have developed in dialogue with other art disciplines, such as the Generative Music of the 1960s, and Concrete Art as defined by Theo van Doesburg as early as 1930. Jäger has used diverse terms to explain his work, from Generative Photography and Concrete Photography to Experimental Photography and Abstract Photography. He belongs to a tradition of German photo experimentation, exemplified by the Bauhaus in the 1920s, Subjektive Fotografie in the 1950s, and the Photo School of Kassel that began in the 1970s. He may be seen as the bridge between the golden age of German experimental photography and the new generation.
Gottfried Jäger has published more than thirty books, including, in English: The Art of Abstract Photography (2002), Can Photography Capture our Time in Images? A Time-Critical Balance (2004), Concrete Photography (2005) and Light Image and Data Image: Traces of Concrete Photography (2015). Nine monographs and catalogs on Gottfried Jäger’s artistic work have been published since 1964 and a compilation of his theoretical essays will be published in April 2016. Jäger has had over 30 solo exhibitions in museums, art centers and galleries in different countries including Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, USA, and Australia.
Gottfried Jäger’s work is held in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House, Rochester; the Sprengel Museum, Hannover; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Ruppert Collection, Museum Würzburg; the Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography is curated by Anais Feyeux, author of a PhD thesis on German photography since 1945 and of a 2006 article about Gottfried Jäger’s work published in Etudes Photographiques.
Gottfried Jäger: Photographer of Photography will be on view April 14th - June 4th, 2016. Steven Kasher Gallery is located at 515 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10001. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM. For press and all other inquiries, please contact Cassandra Johnson, 212 966 3978, cassandra@stevenkasher.com.
