"The Bechers had a chainsaw in their car"

Photo art metropolis Düsseldorf

Ralf Brueck currently has a major solo exhibition in Ratingen, Andreas Gefeller will have a solo show at the NRW-Forum in 2023, Anne Pöhlmann has already had the opportunity to exhibit in the Japan Room of the Langen Foundation and Martin Klimas has made it into the New York Times Magazine with his work. We visited four successful Düsseldorf photo artists and went in search of the formula "photo art made in Düsseldorf".

Even though it is framed, the wave seems to sweep through us and rob us of our orientation. Where is up, where is down? "Wave" is the simple title of Ralf Brueck's work, and the work "Columbus Module ISS", another iconographic motif, albeit in a completely different way, immediately captivates us. But can we trust the perspective and the title of the work? Does the work from the "Deconstruction" series really show the research laboratory of the International Space Station or its detailed replica at ESA in Cologne? Or has the real location been digitally altered? "Take a closer look," advises Ralf Brueck. After a brief but heavy shower, the still-intense autumn light is once again streaming through the windows of the Ratingen Museum, drawing bright stripes on the floor. An exhibition of Ralf Brueck's work can be seen here until January 29, 2023. On display are 63 exhibits, including five video works.

Brueck is one of the younger representatives of the legendary Düsseldorf School of Photography. In his series, some of which are large-format, he deals with architecture and urban spaces, but also with landscapes and natural phenomena. When he began his studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1995, Bernd Becher was still in charge of the photography class. Together with his wife Hilla, because even though she did not officially hold a professorship at the academy, the artist couple always worked together. Blast furnaces, water and winding towers, gasometers, grain silos, factory halls - with their serial black and white photographs, Bernd and Hilla Becher created a life's work that helped them achieve worldwide fame and would outlast them. Not only that: the "Becher class" produced photographic artists such as Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Struth and Thomas Ruff. Gursky's work "Rhein II" fetched around 4.3 million dollars at an auction in 2011, making it the second most expensive photographic work ever sold at auction (after a work by Man Ray).

In a "village" with Gursky and Ruff

"I'm already very attached to Düsseldorf," says Brueck. "It's a village with a metropolitan character. Many world-famous artists live here." This applies to Andreas Gursky as well as Thomas Ruff. Ralf Brueck studied with the latter from 2000 and later became his master student. Brueck has traveled a lot, likes New York and Los Angeles. Nevertheless, he moved from Düsseldorf city center to the tranquil district of Oberrath a few years ago. The reason: a luxury floor in a turn-of-the-century villa on the edge of the forest, whose architectural charm is immediately apparent to us, given the coffered doors and beautiful arched windows. The decision to move away from the city center was not an easy one for Brueck, who was born in Düsseldorf in 1966 and whose parents ran a restaurant "with boat rental" at Schwanenspiegel "even before K21 became K21".

"No matter which district you go to in Düsseldorf, You always come across a considerable number of artists who live there, from the most diverse generations. The density is extraordinary," says Anne Pöhlmann, born in 1978. She also studied under Thomas Ruff from 2001, later switching to Rita McBride's class. What drew her to the Düsseldorf Art Academy? "You knew, of course, that the academy was active and was getting a lot of attention," says the Dresden native, citing the annual tour as one of the reasons. "During my studies, I also found it remarkable that we had around ten guest students every semester. And that also reflected the reality of the city, whose internationality surprised me. After all, Düsseldorf isn't that big."

Melting pot Düsseldorf

Anne Pöhlmann's closest friends suddenly came from South Korea or Belarus. Or from Japan, a country that has also inspired Pöhlmann artistically. For her "Japan Diary", she used Japanese printing techniques to print her photographs on silk. The impetus came from a residency in Kyoto. "I had already dealt with the question: "What is an image carrier?" and since then I have used a wide variety of materials for my photo prints." In the old imperial city of Kyoto with its textile tradition, she also came across old vintage fabrics at flea markets. This gave her the idea of integrating other textiles into her work in addition to the photo print on silk. The result could then be seen as an installation in the Japan Room of the Langen Foundation in Neuss, where Anne Pöhlmann had a solo exhibition in 2019. "For me, the interweaving of conceptual art and photography is very interesting."  

"There are just so many photo artists in Düsseldorf that you can talk to," says Andreas Gefeller. The photographer welcomes us to his studio, a small two-storey house in a backyard on Hansaallee. The view outside is of a trumpet tree. On the wall on the upper floor, where Gefeller works, hang some of his latest works. The series is called "Dust" and the photo artist is still working on it. "I'm showing 'Dust' first at Art Cologne and then next spring at the NRW-Forum." The solo exhibition "Andreas Gefeller" will open at the NRW-Forum on March 3, 2023. On display will be 60 works from the Düsseldorf artist's entire oeuvre, from 2000 to the present day up to "Dust".

Dust? Some of the pictures here in the studio are more reminiscent of astrophotographs. "In reality, it's slag that is thrown up and disintegrates in the air. I photographed it at the waste incineration plant in Flingern," explains Andreas Gefeller. "If you get closer, you can see glass and metal splinters or wires, sometimes even screws." Indeed, now we discover small colored, sometimes pixel-like dots. Gefeller has increased the color contrasts "to make visible what is otherwise not visible". As a result, the gray-on-gray of the slag became lighter, revealing some of its secrets.

The expansion of the tangible

Whether in an early series of works such as "Soma", for which he photographed vacation resorts on Gran Canaria at night and with long exposures, or a series such as "Flames", in which the eponymous flames are more reminiscent of bones, mushrooms or embryos - with Gefeller, the first glance is often deceptive. By resorting to techniques such as long-term, short-term and overexposure, collaging individual digital images or choosing unusual perspectives, the photo artist, who studied at the Folkwang University in Essen, expands the dimension of what can be experienced. As an artist who is represented by galleries in Cologne, London, Amsterdam and New York, does he identify with his native city of Düsseldorf? "I don't feel part of a group, but of course I do: no matter where I am in the world, everyone really knows the Düsseldorf School of Photography, and that is certainly not to my disadvantage."

But why is it that Düsseldorf is still one or perhaps even the center of artistic photography today, even internationally and almost half a century after the Bechers took up their post at the art academy? There seem to be not only historical reasons for this, but also very tangible, or rather technical reasons. "Düsseldorf has a great infrastructure. There are photo laboratories and workshops here that bring together expertise that you won't find anywhere else," says Martin Klimas. We meet him in his studio on Mintropstraße. The legendary Kling-Klang-Studio by Kraftwerk was once located just a backyard away, while artists such as Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo and Thomas Schütte worked in a studio building on the neighboring Harkortstraße. "Grieger is one such address, as is HSL," adds Klimas. The two photo laboratories merged two years ago. "And where can you find a frame maker like Frank Terhardt with his four-meter frames?"

Craftsmanship is part of the business

"I have all the workshops I need in Düsseldorf," Ralf Brueck also told us. And indeed, Grieger's customer list reads like a who's who of art photography - it ranges from Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth to Wolfgang Tillmans and Thomas Demand. Grieger was a pioneer in acrylic glass sealing. Since the 1970s, the company has been the main licensee of the Diasec process, which enables a permanent, bubble-free bond between the image and the protective acrylic glass - up to 5 x 2.40 meters. "The Bechers also worked in smaller image formats and then combined the individual images in their typologies. The fact that Grieger was able to make the large format technically available was a paradigm shift," says Martin Klimas. "From then on, photography was able to compete with painting, because painting had previously leased the large-format image for itself."

Why did this paradigm shift take place in Düsseldorf of all places? Klimas sees the advertising and trade fair city as a driving force here. The large format is of course central to advertising media in particular. He himself also has points of contact with advertising. He studied at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, now HSD, under Gerhard Vormwald, a well-known advertising and magazine photographer of the 1970s, among others.

Today, the photo artist is represented by the Cosar Gallery in Flinger, as well as by a gallery in New York. In his studio, our gaze initially lingers on a smaller framed work, the artwork for a record cover. It reads "Miles At The Fillmore". Miles, so Miles Davis? "The 'New York Times Magazine' had shown some of my 'Sonic Sculptures' and then the art director of a record company approached me." Klimas' colorful "Sonic Sculptures" are a kind of synesthetic experiment. The experimental set-up: Klimas places a stretched canvas frame on a loudspeaker, then applies paint and turns the volume control. The vibration of the membrane sets the paint in motion, it is thrown up and performs a veritable choreography. In the case of the artwork we are looking at, the Miles Davis piece "Pharaoh's Dance" provided the acoustic material. For the rest, Klimas relied on high-speed photography.

Other of his series are also based on this special technique. How else could porcelain figurines smashing on the floor or flower vases hit by projectiles be captured photographically at the moment of their destruction? We look at the prints on the walls and marvel at the aesthetics of decay. Does Klimas see any connection between his own studio photography, which uses light barriers and high-pressure shooting equipment, and the photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher, which strives for objectivity? "The Bechers also had a chainsaw in their car and cleared away anything that got in the way of their work. There was also an assistant with an old fire engine and a long ladder." Klimas grins.

Where Beuys and Warhol met

Of course, photographic art does not take place in a vacuum; in Düsseldorf in particular, it falls on fertile ground. Not only in view of the top-class museum landscape and the many art and cultural institutions with their funding programs. "The corner building here on Luegplatz, which I walk past every day, has been depicted by Andy Warhol in a picture entitled ,He captured 'Oberkassel'. He knew the district from his visits to Joseph Beuys," says Anne Pöhlmann. She has her studio in Wuppertal, but lives in Oberkassel herself. Art is omnipresent in Düsseldorf, she says, and perhaps some artists also like "that you can fly a little under the radar here". Düsseldorf is relaxed and at the same time proud of its art tradition. This is also shown by the many circles of friends with people of all ages that exist here. Another outstanding feature is the extremely large number of off-spaces such as the pool in Golzheim or a whole series of addresses on Flingeraner Birkenstraße such as Nails, sonneundsolche, Baustelle Schaustelle and Da in die Front. "Even when I was a student, we did exhibitions with off-spaces." Anne Pöhlmann likes art events such as the DC Open - the Düsseldorf Cologne Open Galleries - and the gallery that represents her work, Clages, is based in Cologne. Am strike a posefestival, where art and fashion cross-pollinate, the artist herself has already been involved. "Events like this are also a good reason for people who don't usually go to galleries or museums to do so."

Ralf Brueck emphasizes the value of the Stoschek, Philara and Kai10 collections in addition to his love for K21. And during our visit to his exhibition, we in turn marvel at the lenders of the works gathered at the Museum Ratingen, including Thomas Ruff, Candida Höfer and Walid El Sheikh. Oh yes, of course, works by Brueck also hang in El Sheikh's bar "Sir Walter" in Düsseldorf's old town. First and foremost his large-format picture "Wirtschaftswunder". Brueck photographed this in the foyer of Düsseldorf's Dreischeibenhaus, an icon of up-and-coming post-war Germany. The combination of art and club or bar culture has a long tradition in Düsseldorf, just think of the Creamcheese or the Ratinger Hof. Ralf Brueck nods. "If the concept is right, the two can be mutually beneficial."

• "Andreas Gefeller" at the NRW-Forum runs from March 3 to May 14, 2023.

Report by Ilona Marx and Sebastian Wolf (photos).

This article is funded by REACT-EU.

Pictures: Düsseldorf Tourism