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Bernard Voita/Frank Thiel: Galerie Bob Van Orsouw. (Zurich).


Bernard Voita's gray images remind one of Gerhard Richter's paintings of black-and-white snapshots. But here it is photography that recalls painting, rather than vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. . The alternation alternation /al·ter·na·tion/ (awl?ter-na´shun) the regular succession of two opposing or different events in turn.

alternation of generations  metagenesis.
 of blurred and perfectly focused areas evokes spaces that are unapproachable; in the viewer's imagination they coalesce co·a·lesce  
intr.v. co·a·lesced, co·a·lesc·ing, co·a·lesc·es
1. To grow together; fuse.

2. To come together so as to form one whole; unite:
 into land-, sea-, or cityscapes. The viewer tries to discern the houses, bridges, or waterways that are adumbrated here without ever being able to get a clear view. The images remain puzzling inner, rather than mimetic mimetic /mi·met·ic/ (mi-met´ik) pertaining to or exhibiting imitation or simulation, as of one disease for another.

mi·met·ic
adj.
1. Of or exhibiting mimicry.

2.
, landscapes.

Only up close do the blurred contours suddenly give way to suggestions of surfaces or fragments of familiar things and their shadows. It then becomes clear that each shot shows, after all, a stage filled with real objects--a studio setup, presented without gimmicks or manipulation, just simple photographic documentation. But like anamorphoses designed for the eye of the camera, various poles, boards, bowls, grilles, and the like have been arranged in the depths of the room to create a play of light on the arranged objects that produces the illusion of a coherent reality that is completely different from what's actually been photographed. Thus Voita applies photography's familiar claim that "this is how it was" in order to show that "it" could also have been something else. The illusionism illusionism, in art, a kind of visual trickery in which painted forms seem to be real. It is sometimes called trompe l'oeil [Fr.,=fool the eye]. The development of one-point perspective in the Renaissance advanced illusionist technique immeasurably.  inherent in framing and the manipulation of light, present in every photographic record, is not just taken into account here but put on display. Our trust in the information content of images has certainly dwindled over the years, but if we had any last shred of trust in their factual value, these photographs certainly suffice to dispel it. Each image regains its individual measure of believability only insofar in·so·far  
adv.
To such an extent.

Adv. 1. insofar - to the degree or extent that; "insofar as it can be ascertained, the horse lung is comparable to that of man"; "so far as it is reasonably practical he should practice
 as the artist makes a display of the constructedness of his photographs: The bridge is a board is a bridge.

Juxtaposed jux·ta·pose  
tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es
To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
 with Voita's photographs were Frank Thiel's, taken in the east of Berlin in 2000 and showing austere grids of school facades built under the former regime there. Their sharp-focus, depth-of-field analyses of modular construction methods evolve into an abstract pattern of grids. In that way they complemented Voita's unfocused un·fo·cused also un·fo·cussed  
adj.
1. Not brought into focus: an unfocused lens.

2.
 details, which fuse into figurative certainties only until one's realization of how the shots were constructed returns to shatter the illusion. The pairing suggested that photography has lost its object. But a second, more forward-looking lesson would be that photography creates its object, but only in displaying its own manipulation of light. While digital animation remains occupied with perfecting the appearance of reality, photographic artists like Voita have long been creating their own worlds for the camera.

Translated from German by Sara Ogger.
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Article Details
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Author:Reust, Hans Rudolf
Publication:Artforum International
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:May 1, 2002
Words:431
Previous Article:Bruno Serralongue: Centre National De La Photographie. (Paris).
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