VENEZIA black and light - i muri parla | Peter Seidel photographs

About

Germany based artist Peter Seidel presents his current series of photographs, he invites us to take an unusual view on the Serenissima. The worldwide unique city ensemble captured in black and white, illuminated only by the moon and lanterns, like chiseled light sculptures created in front of the nocturnal background. Architectural testimonials not only of splendor and power, but also everyday places are emerging out of the darkness. In today's photography everything seems possible, meanwhile the question of necessity remains unresponded. Venezia in black and light celebrates the abstraction of daylight, kitschy blue sky, the abscence of people and the waves of their omnipresent movement. The tsunamis of screaming colours now sent to sleep and locked behind rusty rolling grills. Loudness turned down close to zero. Temporary urban spaces transitioning into breathtaking stage sets. Like in paintings of Edward Hopper the borders between the inner and the outer world are vanishing. Performer or viewer, who is who?

For more than ten years the photographer came back on his visits to cure his redundancy allergy researching for new perspectives. Again and again he climbed into the ring, facing the city until he finally felt having an approach to its center, its heart. The synergy of the renouncement of daylight, of black and white, being classical for the theme and the unusual format at least provide his appropriate frame for the sceneries.

Displaying their bold compositions these works of Peter Seidel refer to the imagery of Art Déco. The photographs have an inner tranquility, reflecting the history of Venezia and it's vulnerability as a place on earth. And - only if you are quiet, you can hear the stones talking. I muri parla. So look now.

www.peterseidel.de

Two voices:
Gail Levin: Peter Seidel, like Edward Hopper a master of interior spaces.
T.C.Boyle: Your photos are ravishing.