PhotoFaust – “we are a part of the part”

The exhibition was created as part of the Munich Faust Festival 2018. What would Goethe have taken up as a major theme of our time if it had been ported into the present time? Since the first two parts dealt with different aspects of development, this central idea is to be continued. Development today takes place to a large extent in the digital world. The actual development gives way to self-dramatization; it is not necessary to take up real positions; it is sufficient to stage oneself in them. The Faustian striving gives way to the meaningless striving for more. Accordingly, we stage ourselves in the action-bearing figures of Faust and place this at the centre of our work. In order to document the connection with Goethe’s work, each photo image is associated with a quotation from Faust.

Whose messengers

Angels are the messengers of God in Christianity, in Judaism as well as in Islam. Their task is to bridge the distance between God and man and to deliver news. Angels have always been among the most fascinating beings of religions. Interestingly, however, one cannot directly see who sent them and whose messengers they are.

Collaboration with Celly van Laatzen

Part of the concept is to include works by other artists and thus integrate additional influences into the creation process. Celly van Laatzen’s works have a special appeal here, as they already contain unusual, sometimes absurd combinations from different worlds. His pictures tell stories that we take as an impulse to make them one of our stories in a process between painter and photographer, which are documented in the form of a photo painting.

Interact with Someone unknown

In the works from the series “Interact with Someone unknown”, an unsigned work such as a graffiti from the public space is the basis of the work. The finished photo painting is then used to make contact with the artist of the original and to make him a well-known artist. Chris Uphues is one of the artists who was contacted in this way. Chris lives in Brooklyn and is known as “the heart artist” because he leaves his heart graffiti on public surfaces in New York. One of them was taken by us and used as a basis for some photo paintings. Two months later, the result was posted back on the same fence in NY-Queens where we found it, with QR code containing a request to contact. After the subsequent contact, the idea for a joint project arose – “Heart Attack”.

Interrelations

Intuitively, painting is attributed a fictional element, while photography takes on a documentary character, giving it more faith. Photo paintings follow a photographic approach. Not through the intention to create photographic realism, but through the investigation of the interrelations between photographic and painterly perception. Through the equal combination of photographic, painterly and processual elements, which no longer permit a clear classification of the result, photography apparently loses its documentary character and conquers the realm of fiction.