Hans Adler reception

×

Expand

Hans Adler.

A black and white photograph by Hans Adler.

The exhibit "T’ART & TRACES. Under the Spell of Black-and-White Photography," by Hans Adler, is on display through May 30 at the Fluno Center.

media release: T’ART & TRACES. Under the Spell of Black-and-White Photography

Running Time: March 5 to May 30, 2023, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm daily, FLUNO Center; 601 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53715-1035.(Informal Opening: March 16, 4-6 pm)

Free and open to the public.

Artist statement:

The photographs in this exhibit are not windows on the world nor do they re-present anything, rather, they present themselves as realities of their own and do not mean anything. 

The material for these photographs is drawn from everyday life. In selecting a perspective from which to view these found objects, I disconnect elements from their original context and, thus, defamiliarize them: The photos are ‘abstracted’ from their origins. What, in reality, used to be part of a whole morphs into a new whole, becoming, in the photograph, a new totality. These new entities attract our attention, and in pleasing or displeasing our sense of sight, they become aesthetic objects. Since they have no meaning, they let our imagination roam freely, enabling and fostering our capacity for invention, that is to say, our creativity.

‘Abstract’ photography (which is admittedly a tricky designation) allows us to explore the realm of the possible beyond the horizon of alleged necessities and habitual ways of thinking and imagining. As such, abstract photography can contribute to the human ability to generate ideas for changing extra-photographic reality.

The exhibit is sponsored by the PhotoMidwest Society.