Alexander Gehring
Photography
2.6.2023 – 14.7.2023
Eröffnung 2.6.2023, 19h
Introduction: Dr.Hella Nocke-Schrepper
The alchemy of color stands in the context of the connection between research and photography.
In the analog photo series parallels between alchemical processes and photographic processes are worked out. The works are characterized by colors such as ruby red or gold, as well as muted backgrounds, which make the focus of the photographs appear in an aura of ritual and alchemy. The structure of photography and man is tried to decipher by means of the work cycle. Alexander Gehring is at the intersection of analog and digital photography. The alchemy of color is particularly characterized by the intimate visual codings made possible by working out colors in the darkroom. Death, processuality, the mystical - like a memory from the subconscious, one encounters Gehring's analog photographs in exhibition space, the interface of production and reception.
In der analogen Fotoreihe werden Parallelen zwischen alchemistischen Prozessen und fotografischen Prozessen herausgearbeitet. Geprägt werden die Werke durch Farben wir Rubinrot oder Gold, sowie gedeckte Hintergründe, die den Fokus der Fotografien in einer Aura des Rituals und der Alchemie erscheinen lassen. Das Gefüge Fotografie und Mensch wird anhand der Werkzyklus versucht zu entschlüsseln. Alexander Gehring befindet sich an der Schnittkante zwischen analoger und digitaler Fotografie. The alchemy of colour zeichnet sich besonders durch die intimen visuellen Codierungen, die durch das Herausarbeiten von Farben in der Dunkelkammer möglich werden. Tod, Prozesshaftigkeit, das Mystische – wie eine Erinnerung aus dem Unterbewussten begegnen einem Gehrings analoge Fotografien in Ausstellungsraum, der Schnittstelle von Produktion und Rezeption.
Alexander Gehring
The photographer Alexander Gehring (*1981) lives and works in Berlin. He completed his studies at Bielefeld University and the London College of Communications in 2011. Already during his studies, Gehring exhibited in metropolises of particular importance for contemporary photography, such as Tokyo, Kassel and Berlin. His time after graduation took the artist to Montpellier and New York, among other places. In 2016, he received the Merck Prize, during the Darmstadt Days of Photography. His latest cycle of works The alchemy of color now leads him to Düsseldorf, in the gallery Coelner Zimmer.
About the working method
Analog photography, developing the images in the darkroom. This is what makes Alexander Gehring's work so special. Working in the dark allows the artist to work even more intensively on his photographs. This allows Gehring to have an influence on the final result until the very end. Additional effects, fading colors ,color glazing- all a result of working in the darkroom. Working in the laboratory is what the artist processes in his series The alchemy of color. Trying to recreate something or create an image of reality is something that the analog photographer has in common with the alchemists in the laboratory.
