9 Objekte (1969) by Richter, GerhardSerralves Foundation
Photography is a fact. Fictional detectives and reporters would sacrifice everything for a shot that proves how things are. But is it really so?
The artwork is built from a photographic series of similar objects, perhaps sculptures or home furnishings. This style recalls authors such as August Sander or Bernd and Hilla Becher, who attempted to classify reality by the same method for a sort of visual encyclopedia.
Yet, the subjects of these photographs don’t seem properly real, do they?
They’re “impossible objects”. The artist achieved out-of-reach geometries in a 3D reality through post-production. Literally, a conceptual photograph: that is the representation of something which can only be possible in your mind!
The purpose of the artwork is the complete opposite of its sources: not a classification of the real, but rather a demonstration of the radical division between reality and representation. Sometimes, even the most faithful photograph can’t help our detective to uncover the truth!
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