Photopeintries

Photopeintries gathers four artists whose works combine painting and photography, thus questioning the inherent subjectivity and objectivity of both media. For several years now, Philippe de Gobert has been working on a series of three-dimensional, fictional models of artist studios. By reproducing these models as large-size black-and-white photographs, he deprives them of their materiality and objectivity. By either taking pictures of original paintings (i.e. a series in twelve parts on the life of Marcel Duchamp) or his own paintings, or by painting them over, Gabriele Di Matteo blurs the limits between originality and reproduction. Andreas Schön's landscape paintings (oil or watercolours) based on aerial photographs, draw their inspiration from sketches on archeological diggings in the Aegean Sea or fictional archeological sites. Herman Steins as well draws his oil paintings from photographs. Impressed by the Dutch landscapes, he realizes black-and-white, almost monochromic pictures, which he then puts into grey or colour frames. However, the introduction of geometrical signs alienates the nostalgia of the scenery.