Andreas Bohnhoff
Photography
22.09. – 26.09.2004

Black-and-white photography still exists. With Andreas Bohnhoff, the Kunstverein Bremerhaven presents one of the rare contemporary representatives who has achieved mastery in “colorless” photography. In 1992, his mostly square photographs were presented for the first time in Bremerhaven.

After that, things quieted down for the photographer. But in recent years, he has returned to the public eye with new photographs and exhibitions. His photographic subject matter ties in seamlessly with his earlier work. Andreas Bohnhof’s images are clearly rooted in history, specifically in the New Objectivity movement of the 1920s. This is particularly noticeable in the composition of his architectural photographs. The choice of framing and the use of light are reminiscent of the beginnings of modern photography. In the daily flood of colorful and digitized images, Andreas Bohnhoff delightfully highlights the almost forgotten quality of the seemingly dying genre of black-and-white photography. However, the photographer does not limit himself to the technical and stylistic adaptation of famous role models. His motifs are remarkable. Among the recognizable architectural spaces, one might discern a gentleman in antique clothing. Or a man striding in front of a bright, smooth new wall of recent date. He casts a long shadow, and above the wall rises the spire of a neo-Gothic lighthouse, whose masonry is as historic as the clothing and demeanor of the flâneur. Andreas Bohnhoff stages his photos, his portraits, his still lifes. And these stagings are unsettling. They are subjective, obviously deliberately arranged by the artist. In front of his camera, the apparent photographic reality becomes a stage, a stage for surreal-seeming narratives, told with technical perfection in timeless photographs. The current exhibition was made possible with the support of the Chamber of Employees.

Curated by Anne Schmeckies.