Bernhard Prinz - IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION

Contemporary and Old Art Reviews

Bernhard Prinz - IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION

Postby BKnaus » Sat May 03, 2014 12:09 pm

Bernhard Prinz
IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION
April 5 - May 31, 2014.

a catalogue and a limited edition is available

Please find more information at:
http://www.bernhardknaus-art.de/Prinz_E.html

In his second solo exhibition IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION at Bernhard Knaus Fine Art the Hamburg based artist Bernhard Prinz presents new works from the last three years.

Prinz's images of buildings, nature studies and still life taken in different places in Europe elude in their variety and diversity an immediate reading. Forms of expression and norms of behavior, gestures, transmission patterns and sign systems are disclosed as diverse aesthetic and cultural influences only in contrasting juxtaposition in the specific situation of the installation in the gallery space. Behind the surface of the supposedly known new insights can be gained, that revel in subtile humor and irony.

The title of the exhibition IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION comes from computer programming. It refers to a control section of the program which is executed only under a certain condition. A branch determines which of two program sections is performed, depending on one or more conditions. This demonstrates the dependency of action or fact on certain conditions. The image of one of the central works in the exhibition shows the vaulted ceiling of King's College Chapel in Cambridge, which at first glance reminds the viewer of computer animation and not a real existing architecture. In a figurative sense the conditional tense of the title refers to predestination or memento mori - an image that is formed via confrontation or combination of different designs and ideas.

Furthermore, the title can be seen as motto for the copmplex of ideas the artist had in mind, while developping the exhibition: beauty, transience, cultural development, destruction and transcendence.

Bernhard Prinz, born in 1953 in Fürth, studied art history and painting in Erlangen and Nuremberg. He has become internationally known for his photographic portraits. These are reduced to essential generalized forms, that are reminiscent rather of classical paintings than of photographs.

Prinz has gained numerous prizes and awards since he appeared in the international artscene in the early 1980s. He presented his series of works - some with installation elements - in numorous solo and group exhibitions such as documenta8 Kassel (1987), Serpentine Gallery, London (1988) , Vienna Secession (1990), Hamburger Kunsthalle (1996), Museum Folkwang Essen (2003).
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IMG_8871 c.jpg
Installation view, Bernhard Prinz at Bernhard Knaus Fine Art, Frankfurt
IMG_8871 c.jpg (166.27 KiB) Viewed 13887 times
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Re: Bernhard Prinz - IF CONDITION THEN INSTRUCTION

Postby CAP » Sat May 03, 2014 12:30 pm

Strictly speaking, this belongs under Art Press Releases BK. A bit late to switch it around now, but hopefully you will bear this in mind for your many future posts... :)

I’m sort of disappointed Prinz's photography isn’t more digital, given the allusion to programming. I’d have been more impressed with the Kings College Chapel Ceiling work if he’d replicated it in 3-D modelling and then chosen an angle suggesting he was looking from the floor up – or if he’d digitally edited the ceiling in subtle, maybe impossible ways.

Maybe that’s too Ruff or Gursky. :P

Anyway, good to see German photography that doesn’t emanate from Dusseldorf, although Hamburg not really that far…. from where I’m sitting… ;)
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