Andreas Gefeller BLANK CLOSE UPS

For the self-description of our present, key terms such as "digital flood of images," "information overload," and "sensory overload" are often discussed.

Influenced by an accelerated perception dictated by everyday life, it becomes challenging to focus on a single thing and sharpen our viewing habits for a variety of perceptual possibilities.

Andreas Gefeller's images from the series Blank allow for a moment of pause and a deceleration of the gaze. The Thomas Rehbein Gallery is pleased to present new works from his Blank series in its space with Gefeller's fifth solo exhibition.

This includes the presentation of his new book Blank.

Through the techniques of digital photography, Andreas Gefeller achieves a representation of reality that points to the limits of seeing. Without manipulating reality, his images offer viewers an expanded perception of reality. The works from the Blank series reveal what the night’s darkness would normally conceal from our eyes: seemingly absent details and connections. His images demand a willingness to engage with complex perceptual situations and provoke reflection.

At the same time, the images serve as metaphors for the phenomena of the information age and its impact on visual perception. In the fragmentary and fleeting, the accelerated perception of the digital age can be reflected. The overstimulated environment of our modern society, overloaded with images, information, and unreflective consumption, finds its visual counterpart in excessive overexposures. Barely recognizable as photographs, the boundaries between photography and drawing blur in Andreas Gefeller's images. The self-reflection of the medium becomes a subject, subtly questioning transgressions, objectivity, and the documentary character of photography.

(Miriam Walgate, 2016)