Valentina Seidel »Exchange: Portraits with Artists«
January 19—March 1, 2008
Opening: Saturday, January 19, 2008, 11am—9pm

Mapping the Artist. In ›Exchange‹, a project commenced in 2000, Valentina Seidel investigates which iconographies artists preferably utilize in photographic representations [of themselves].
Valentina Seidel is interested in interplay, the individual exchange with the persons she photographs: She does not determine the places and poses on the photographs, but gives them the opportunity and inspiration to show themselves in their respective ambience. The artists, and occasionally, the designers, gallery owners and art mediators invited by her to participate in ›Exchange‹ are actively involved in all the phases of the project.

They are even allowed to help select the final photograph for publication. As the artists themselves look for the places in which they want to be photographed, each picture to some extent reflects their work. Today, the artist is characterized not so much by the genius of his style, but rather by his investigative instinct. At a time in which the work of many artists is no longer defined by ›originality‹, but rather in terms of found material culled from a vast pool of existing sources, one also expects an artist to know his locality well  —  in terms of producing an apposite portrait of himself. The photos, it is hoped, express all the featured artists’ liking for the exceptional, unusual, and overlooked and, ideally, reflect the atmosphere pervading their respective works.

The sculptor Robert Bridgewater and his girlfriend Kate McCaughey restage Jan van Eycks famous Arnolfini Marriage: Furnishing their newly–renovated home, the couple coincidentally finds itself surrounded by objects that echo the middle–class domestic environment of the early 15th century. The photograph thus testifies to a long tradition, and rather than claiming total difference in an avant–garde manner, the artist sets great store on being perceived as working with an acute consciousness of historic continuity.

Thus, besides revealing individual traits of the respective artists and other personas from the world of art, Valentina Seidel’s photographs really do represent  —  along the social standing  —their corresponding professions. The elective affinity between the persons photographed and their respective choice of setting testifies to a developed sense of ambiguity and openness. They render visibly tangible the innate peculiarities not only of the artists, but also of art.
—Wolfgang Ullrich, excerpt from the catalogue: Valentina Seidel »Exchange: Portraits with Artists«

Valentina Seidel [*1973] in Regensburg, Germany, lives and works in Leipzig
1992/93 practical trainings in photography, International Summeracademy of Fine Arts Salzburg, Austria, under Michael Schmidt [1992] and Nan Goldin [1993]
1994–1999 Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig/Germany, Department of Photography; Diploma
1999–2001 postgraduate studies at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig/Germany, Class of Photography and Media, with Joachim Brohm

Publication: A fully illustrated catalogue, edited by Fotohof Salzburg [AT], with an essay by distinguished art historian Wolfgang Ullrich will accompany the exhibition.

The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm.
Josef Filipp, Michaela Rosbach, and Jörg Rosbach look forward to your visit.
For additional information and privat viewing by appointments, call +49 [0]172. 373 11 10

Further exhibition of Valentina Seidel: Galerie Michael Wiesehöfer, Cologne, »select.jp« [with Joachim Brohm], January 12—February 16, 2008.