.NOVEMBER 16. 2OQ7 JUStjOUt 41
art
Modernist Wasteland Chic
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Gay German photographer taps into our subconscious
by Wayne Bund
he glasses occupy his face with a modernist twist: simple and straight edges,
plain yet hip. The hutton-up shirt he wears reeks of formality, while the
rolled-up sleeves give off a relaxed look. Although he fumbles over his
English, the words he speaks ring out in eloquence.
T
His name is Oliver Boberg, and he recently made a visit to Portland in hon
or of his first solo exhibition in the Pacific Northwest. The German-based artist is
showing his large-format, multi-image photographs at gay-owned Quality Pictures
gallery.
While in town on a weeklong whirlwind tour, Boberg not only attended his First
Thursday opening but also lectured about his work and process. “I construct new envi
ronments for our memory stages," he said at the lecture, which was presented Nov. 2 in
collaboration with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and Wieden+Kennedy
Art Buying. Boberg mentioned in conversation that while he openly identifies as gay,
he does not make the content of his work about his sexual orientation.
His work has been described by The New York Times as “an elegant exercise in
Modernist wasteland chic." Upon first glance, the photographs seem like mundane
industrial settings: a dcxirway, an alleyway, a row of shrubbery. What is not apparent
in his hyper-real images is that they are constructed. Boberg’s process includes find
ing actual settings, redesigning them, creating a scaled-down set and then photo
graphing the constructed set. What seems to be a routine image is the product of
intense process.
Boherg shared during his lecture that his intent in using these everyday, lifeless
settings is to access a collective visual memory archive that strikes a chord with
a viewers subconscious memories. Quality Pictures owner Erik Schneider has written,
“Boberg is interested in how the relationships of the photos and the connection they
uncover alter the viewer’s comprehension of what is being depicted.” ©
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OLIVER BOBERG’$ photographs from the Seiten/Pages series and films from the
Nachr-Orte/Night Sites senes are on display through Dec. 29 at Quality Pictures,
Oliver Boberg's photographs are deceptively simple conclusions to a complex process.
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