Ingar Krauss' stagings of plants and animals propose a portraiture of another kind, in which human faces and personalities give way to the flora and fauna of his immediate surroundings. Born in East Berlin in 1965, Krauss learned a trade and worked for many years as a psychiatric caregiver before turning to photography in the mid-1990s. After moving his studio from Berlin to the Brandenburg countryside, he became a gardener and began dedicating much of his time to plants and vegetables.
Within stage-like boxes of his own construction, Krauss arranges fruit, vegetables, plants, dead birds and other animals under carefully controlled natural light. His subjects appear as protagonists on a stage, arranged to create geometric tension.
Working with a large-format camera, Krauss records these arrangements as monochrome analogue photographs on matte gelatin-silver paper, then adds colour by hand with a delicate glaze of oil paint. Rooted in the German Romantic longing for self-knowledge through nature, the works pursue a hidden relationship between human inner life and the worlds of plants and animals. Through careful arrangement and depiction, Krauss seeks to transform commonplace subjects by "replacing inattention with contemplation."
Rather than invoking vanitas, Krauss' still lifes are animated by a quiet lightness and a certain playfulness, particularly in the way the vegetables are staged alone or assembled into small ensembles. As Felix Hoffmann writes, Krauss' work "makes visible the oscillation between lightness, life, transience and death."
Within stage-like boxes of his own construction, Krauss arranges fruit, vegetables, plants, dead birds and other animals under carefully controlled natural light. His subjects appear as protagonists on a stage, arranged to create geometric tension.
Working with a large-format camera, Krauss records these arrangements as monochrome analogue photographs on matte gelatin-silver paper, then adds colour by hand with a delicate glaze of oil paint. Rooted in the German Romantic longing for self-knowledge through nature, the works pursue a hidden relationship between human inner life and the worlds of plants and animals. Through careful arrangement and depiction, Krauss seeks to transform commonplace subjects by "replacing inattention with contemplation."
Rather than invoking vanitas, Krauss' still lifes are animated by a quiet lightness and a certain playfulness, particularly in the way the vegetables are staged alone or assembled into small ensembles. As Felix Hoffmann writes, Krauss' work "makes visible the oscillation between lightness, life, transience and death."
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Exhibitions (selection)
2021
„Zwischen Traum & Zaun – Gärten im Fokus der Kunst“, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt (DE)
„FlowerPower. Die Kunst, mit Blumen zu sprechen“ Angermuseum Erfurt, Erfurt (DE)
„Landeinwärts“ Landtag of Brandenburg, Potsdam (DE)
2020
„Mounted Light“ Galerie Sandau & Leo, Berlin (DE)
„Provincia“ Kummerow Castle, Kummerow (DE)
2019
Solo show, Steigen, Edvard Munch Haus, Warnemünde (DE)
Solo show, Vitreus, Gaggenau Hub, Milan (IT)
Here’s Looking at You, Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm (SE)
Terra nostra – le temps de l’Anthropocène, Le Quadrilatère, Beauvais (FR)
2018
Solo show, About a girl, Fotohaus ParisBerlin, Arles (FR)
Ins Offene “Fotokunst im Osten Deutschlands seit 1990 / Into the Open“, Photographic Art in East Germany since 1990, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle, Halle (DE)
2015
Solo show, Hortus, Orangerie der Anhaltischen Gemäldegalerie, Dessau (DE)
New Stillives, Villa Rosenthal, Jena (DE)
Spuren, Fotografien aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseum DKW Cottbus, Landtag Brandenburg, Potsdam (DE)
Miradas, Centro Cultural de España - Casa del Soldado, Panama (ES)
Frangit Nucem, 3rd Cramum award, Palazzo Isimbardi, Milan (IT)
2014
Solo show, Natures Mortes, Hôtel Fontfreyde Centre Photographique, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
PORTRAIT, Macro - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (IT)
2013
Le temps suspendu. Une rétrospective, Goethe Institut Paris, Paris (FR)
San Salvario, Velan Center, Turin (IT)
Wanderarbeiter. Fotografien einer neuen Arbeiterklasse, Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg (DE)
2011
Youth of Dresden around 2010/Dresdner Jugend um 2010, Technische Sammlungen Dresden, Dresden (DE)
2010
Photography, Dong-Gang Museum of Photography, Gangwon-do (KR)
2009
This Is Not a Fashion Photograph, International Center of Photography, New York (US)
La Gioia, FotoGrafia Festival Internazionale di Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (IT)
Little history of photography, Centro Galego Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela (ES)
2008
Nostalgie. L’istante e la durata del tempo, Museo d‘Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa (IT)
Presumed Innocence: Photographic Perspectives of Children, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln (US)
2007
Act of Faith, 14th Noorderlicht International Photofestival, Groningen (NL)
2006
Quasi l’infanzia, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (IT)
Storie Urbane, Settimana della Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia (IT)
2005
The Children’s Hour, Museum of New Art, Pontiac Michigan (US)
2004
About Face. Photography and the Death of the Portrait, Hayward Gallery London und Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne (CH)
La Dura Bellezza, Palazzo della Calcografia, Rome (IT)
2021
„Zwischen Traum & Zaun – Gärten im Fokus der Kunst“, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt (DE)
„FlowerPower. Die Kunst, mit Blumen zu sprechen“ Angermuseum Erfurt, Erfurt (DE)
„Landeinwärts“ Landtag of Brandenburg, Potsdam (DE)
2020
„Mounted Light“ Galerie Sandau & Leo, Berlin (DE)
„Provincia“ Kummerow Castle, Kummerow (DE)
2019
Solo show, Steigen, Edvard Munch Haus, Warnemünde (DE)
Solo show, Vitreus, Gaggenau Hub, Milan (IT)
Here’s Looking at You, Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm (SE)
Terra nostra – le temps de l’Anthropocène, Le Quadrilatère, Beauvais (FR)
2018
Solo show, About a girl, Fotohaus ParisBerlin, Arles (FR)
Ins Offene “Fotokunst im Osten Deutschlands seit 1990 / Into the Open“, Photographic Art in East Germany since 1990, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle, Halle (DE)
2015
Solo show, Hortus, Orangerie der Anhaltischen Gemäldegalerie, Dessau (DE)
New Stillives, Villa Rosenthal, Jena (DE)
Spuren, Fotografien aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseum DKW Cottbus, Landtag Brandenburg, Potsdam (DE)
Miradas, Centro Cultural de España - Casa del Soldado, Panama (ES)
Frangit Nucem, 3rd Cramum award, Palazzo Isimbardi, Milan (IT)
2014
Solo show, Natures Mortes, Hôtel Fontfreyde Centre Photographique, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
PORTRAIT, Macro - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (IT)
2013
Le temps suspendu. Une rétrospective, Goethe Institut Paris, Paris (FR)
San Salvario, Velan Center, Turin (IT)
Wanderarbeiter. Fotografien einer neuen Arbeiterklasse, Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg (DE)
2011
Youth of Dresden around 2010/Dresdner Jugend um 2010, Technische Sammlungen Dresden, Dresden (DE)
2010
Photography, Dong-Gang Museum of Photography, Gangwon-do (KR)
2009
This Is Not a Fashion Photograph, International Center of Photography, New York (US)
La Gioia, FotoGrafia Festival Internazionale di Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (IT)
Little history of photography, Centro Galego Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela (ES)
2008
Nostalgie. L’istante e la durata del tempo, Museo d‘Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa (IT)
Presumed Innocence: Photographic Perspectives of Children, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln (US)
2007
Act of Faith, 14th Noorderlicht International Photofestival, Groningen (NL)
2006
Quasi l’infanzia, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (IT)
Storie Urbane, Settimana della Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia (IT)
2005
The Children’s Hour, Museum of New Art, Pontiac Michigan (US)
2004
About Face. Photography and the Death of the Portrait, Hayward Gallery London und Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne (CH)
La Dura Bellezza, Palazzo della Calcografia, Rome (IT)
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