 Untitled (03_18), 2004 Lambdaprint on aluminum, 45" x 60" Christoph Schreiber James Nicholson Gallery is pleased to announce the first U.S. solo exhibition of Swiss artist Christoph Schreiber. Christoph Schreiber's deadpan photographs explore the subtle ways in which man has affected the natural world. Using digital techniques, Schreiber reconfigures his photographed scenes through the removal, addition or transformation of details until only a handful of essential elements remain. His pared-down landscapes depict environments that are symmetrical and orderly, yet oddly off kilter. By altering everyday settings in small, almost imperceptible ways, Schreiber creates an anxiety in the viewer, who experiences a reality somewhat amiss. Often monolithic man-made forms, such as shipping containers, warehouses, and apartment buildings, are plunked down on a similarly stark landscape emphasizing their simultaneously familiar and foreign character. In other photographs Schreiber depicts a strange grove of trees coming through the mist, mysterious lights sparkling at the foot of a mountain, and an abstract blur of a truck passing through the countryside. In each of these images the landscape is anonymous, but recognizable. In his photographs, Schreiber captures both the destruction and the beauty of the industrial world's intrusions into nature. The result is at once humorous and devastating. The viewer, like the depicted structures, is isolated. Both are situated somewhat uncomfortably in their landscape, reflecting the essence of the human condition. Schreiber's images are proof of the many scenic details we unconsciously absorb day in and day out, and therefore come to expect in the photography of everyday life. As he subtly composes his landscapes, Schreiber forces us to question what we assume about our environments. These assumptions not only result from how we change our world, but also from our changing perceptions of the world. Christoph Schreiber lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany. For the past six years Schreiber has exhibited extensively in Europe and has won several Swiss art prizes. Exhibition: September 9 - October 9, 2004 Gallery Hours: Tue-Fri 11am - 5:30pm, Sat 11am - 5pm James Nicholson Gallery 49 Geary Street, 4th Floor USA-San Francisco, CA 94108 Telephone +1 415 397 0100 Fax +1 415 397 0155 Email: info@nicholsongallery.com www.nicholsongallery.com |
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