CAMERA WORK Gallery presents an exhibition of over 50 photographs by Martin Schoeller starting August 26, 2023. All works, the majority of which have never been exhibited before, are from the world-renowned โClose Upโ series of the photo artist, who is exclusively represented by CAMERA WORK Gallery.
ยปA photographic close-up is perhaps the purest form of portraiture, crea5ng a confronta5on between the viewer and the subject that daily interac5on makes impossible, or at least impolite. In a straight close-up, the impact stems solely from the subjectโs expression or apparent lack thereof, so the viewer is challenged to read a face without the bene๏ฌt of the environmental cues we naturally use to form our interpersonal reac5ons.ยซ
Martin Schoeller
Martin Schoeller is one of the worldโs most renowned portrait photographers, whose distinctive visual language unites his artistic series and award-winning projects. Within the framework of the ยปClose Upยป series, which was initiated by the artist more than 25 years ago, Schoeller always encounters his subject the same technical circumstances. This also results in an equality of the subject for the viewer; name and rank become secondary, the person comes to the fore, and the viewer encounters the subject directly. The exhibition in the CAMERA WORK Gallery shows impressive ยปClose Upsยซ of artists, athletes and politicians
such as Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jordan, Vitali Klitschko, and Salman Rushdie. In addition to selected works, Polaroids created during the respective shootings will be exhibited for the ๏ฌrst time. The unique pieces, which show Angelina Jolie, Barack Obama, and Lionel Messi, among others, illustrate the authenticity of the ยปClose Upsยซ created in the same context as a predominant feature in Martin Schoellerโs work.
Martin Schoeller (*1968 in Munich, Germany) studied photography at the Leme Verein in Berlin and moved to New York in the mid-1990s, where he initially worked as an assistant to Annie Leibovitz and began his own career just a few years later. Martin Schoellerโs oeuvre includes his ongoing ยปClose Upยซ series as well as staged portraits and art projects within his series with a socio-relational focus, including ยปDeath Row Exonerees,ยซ ยปSurvivors: Faces of Life aqer the Holocaust,ยซ and ยปHomeless.ยซ In many cases, award-winning publications have accompanied the projects. Martin Schoellerโs photographs are part of museum and private art collections worldwide and are exhibited in major art institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. (2008) and the NRW-Forum in Dรผsseldorf (2020). Well-known magazines and newspapers โ including ยปTime,ยซ ยปThe New Yorker,ยซ and ยปNational Geographicยซ โ publish Schoellerโs work. The artistโs photographs are available in exclusive editions and are considered to be of signi๏ฌcant importance on the primary and secondary art markets.
CAMERA WORK
CAMERA WORK was founded in 1997 in Berlin, and has since then become one of the worldwide leading galleries for photography. With its historically coined gallery name, the gallery has always followed the philosophy to represent, next to world famous classic photographers such as Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Man Ray, Herb Rims, and Albert Watson young and contemporary artists to manifest the position of photography as an independent genre within visual art and to give room to new positions. CAMERA WORK exclusively represents many prominent contemporary artists in Germany, Europe and around the world such as David Yarrow, David Drebin, Jean-Baptiste Huynh, Russell James, Robert Polidori, Eugenio Recuenco, Martin Schoeller, and Christian Tagliavini. CAMERA WORK regularly participates in the major international photography and art fairs, such as Art Central Hong Kong, Zona Maco in Mexico City, Paris Photo, and Photo London.
In 2020, CAMERA WORK established CAMERA WORK Virtual Gallery โ an innovative, high quality online gallery where art collectors and art lovers can experience exclusive exhibiYons: www.camerawork.de/en/ virtualgallery/
CAMERA WORK AG, founded in 2001, owns one of the worldโs most extensive and high-quality private photography collections with numerous vintage works by the most famous photographers of the 19th century up to the present. Beyond emphases on fashion, nude, and portrait photography, CAMERA WORK also focuses on the genres architecture and still life. From 2006 to 2019, CAMERA WORK presented THE KENNEDYS museum in Berlin, Germany.
CAMERA WORK Photogallery
Kantstraรe 149, 10623 Berlin, Germany