Untitled (Flower), 2010
Photo: Courtesy Johann König, Berlin
Collection
C-print
49.78 x 61.72 cm
The photographs by artist Annette Kelm appear to perpetuate traditional forms of photographic representation in an unspectacular way: i.e. they comprise still lifes, portraits, object photographs, architectural and landscape photographs in medium-sized formats, which tend to be based on conventional studio and landscape practices.
Kelm works traditionally; her photographs are taken with an analogue middle and large-format camera and are individually handmade. She produces both individual and series of works with individual motifs and, in her exhibitions, shows a combination of photographs that refuse to submit to a single reading of a theme or concept. Kelm follows conceptual and critical strategies in that she photographs objects, architecture and design that refer to historically significant correlations. At the same time, she undermines the promise of objectivity in her works by adding props that seem surreal or appear to belong to a subjective mythology. The subjects are often presented against a neutral background in the style of traditional studio photography. However, the background is so present that it becomes part of the foreground and the photographed objects themselves.
Untitled (Flower), 2010 features a flower placed in front of a red and white checked fabric, above sits a printed fabric patterned with stylized icons representing the poker game of Texas Hold'em. Objects, fabrics and patterns are combined and repeated - emerging from the background to the fore, giving visual weight to what might appear to be innocuous props. Her photographs are realistic in their effect but oscillate between precision and ambiguity, and transmit her motifs into a complex visual economy that is in constant flux.
*1975 in Stuttgart, Germany I Living and working in Berlin, Germany
49.78 x 61.72 cm
The photographs by artist Annette Kelm appear to perpetuate traditional forms of photographic representation in an unspectacular way: i.e. they comprise still lifes, portraits, object photographs, architectural and landscape photographs in medium-sized formats, which tend to be based on conventional studio and landscape practices.
Kelm works traditionally; her photographs are taken with an analogue middle and large-format camera and are individually handmade. She produces both individual and series of works with individual motifs and, in her exhibitions, shows a combination of photographs that refuse to submit to a single reading of a theme or concept. Kelm follows conceptual and critical strategies in that she photographs objects, architecture and design that refer to historically significant correlations. At the same time, she undermines the promise of objectivity in her works by adding props that seem surreal or appear to belong to a subjective mythology. The subjects are often presented against a neutral background in the style of traditional studio photography. However, the background is so present that it becomes part of the foreground and the photographed objects themselves.
Untitled (Flower), 2010 features a flower placed in front of a red and white checked fabric, above sits a printed fabric patterned with stylized icons representing the poker game of Texas Hold'em. Objects, fabrics and patterns are combined and repeated - emerging from the background to the fore, giving visual weight to what might appear to be innocuous props. Her photographs are realistic in their effect but oscillate between precision and ambiguity, and transmit her motifs into a complex visual economy that is in constant flux.
*1975 in Stuttgart, Germany I Living and working in Berlin, Germany