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TOWARDS THE WOOD, 2011, Installationview at AKINCI Amsterdam
TOWARDS THE WOOD, 2011, Installationview at AKINCI Amsterdam TOWARDS THE WOOD, 2011, Installationview at AKINCI Amsterdam TOWARDS THE WOOD, 2011, Installationview at AKINCI Amsterdam
TOWARDS THE WOOD, 2011, Installationview at AKINCI Amsterdam
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AXEL HÜTTE - TOWARDS THE WOOD
September 10 – October 8, 2011
Together with Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth, the German
photographer Axel Hütte (b. 1951 in Essen) belongs to the Düsseldorf
School. This generation of German photographers was taught by Bernd &
Hilla Becher. Over the past thirty years, Hütte has made a name for
himself in the international art world.
Axel Hütte travels the globe, mainly photographing landscapes. His early
work is characterised by the confrontation between the urban and natural
environments. However, the industrial estates, factories and bridges
have gradually given way to mountains, primeval forests and woods. His
photographic works are not of a documentary character; rather, they
reveal painterly qualities. Axel Hütte does not retouch his photos, nor
does he direct anything, but he does employ traditional techniques from
classic painting: central perspective, cropping, raised viewpoints,
balanced compositions and imposing dimensions.
A central theme of Hütte’s recent work is the reflection of a wooded
landscape in water. Reflections and the reintroduction of human figures
mark a new phase in his work. This reintroduction of human presence
after a long and emphatic absence is ambivalent. There is no trace of
direct, physical depiction; only the reflection in the water betrays the
presence. In his photographic work, Hütte has always devoted attention
to the standpoint of the observer. The parallels with Caspar David
Friedrich and the German Romantic movement are obvious. In the
reflections, Hütte puts the observer off balance because he meets an
observer at a hidden standpoint in the reflection.
Axel Hütte has had exhibitions a.o. at Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid
(2011), Schirmer/Mosel Showroom, München (2010), IVAM, Valencia (2009),
Fundación Telefónica, Madrid (2008), Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden
(2006), Waddington Galleries, London (2006), Palacio de Velázquez,
Madrid (2004), Fundación César Manrique, Lanzarote (2004), Huis
Marseille Foundation for Photography, Amsterdam (2001), Museum Kurhaus
Kleve (2000), Kunstverein Hannover (1997), Fotomuseum Winterhur (1997).
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