THE MECHANICS OF EXPRESSION
2017-04-03In 1949, a group of avant-garde photographers banded together in Germany to revitalize creativity in photography, which had been deemed degenerate by the Nazis. Founded by Otto Steinert, the group became known as Fotoform. By picking up where the Surrealists and the Bauhaus left off, Fotoform became a movement and spread internationally.
From its origins, the medium of photography has held out the promise of enhanced vision, of eyes outside our bodies, in the words of László Moholy-Nagy. It has enticed its practitioners into realms of experiment and speculation, and inspired them to produce works that are equal parts science and self-expression. Even as the medium evolved artistically toward a documentary precision and a fidelity to appearances, it developed an alternative history, a tradition of testing the boundaries of the visual.
The artists in the exhibition have carried that tradition forward in dramatic ways. They have given free rein to photographic processes, embraced abstraction, explored extreme ideas of form, and adapted the oldest photographic tools to new uses and formats.
Opposite – Peter Keetman, Volkswagen Bumpers, 1953
Exhibition runs through to May 13th, 2017
Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 East 57 Street, Suite 1406
New York
NY 10022
