Frank Kunert Topsy Turvy World

In the tradition of Thomas Demand, acclaimed German photographer Frank Kunert (born 1963) spends weeks constructing highly detailed, convincingly realistic models, then photographs them to exacting technical standards to create vibrant images rife with subtle visual puns. Far from being simply satirical or charming, Kunert's miniatures often contain disquieting non-sequiturs: for example, an image of a multistory apartment-building interior seems to exude a kind of petit-bourgeois tristesse with its carpeted balcony railings, a lone flower box and deck chair, but on closer inspection the doors lead nowhere and the balconies cannot be accessed. This volume, first published in 2008 and long out of print, reveals Kunert's enigmatic world.

Working slowing, consciously perceiving, precisely observing; in our increasingly fast-paced and abstract world, this type of working method seems to be more and more rare. Still, we know that the exception proves the rule. If Frank Kunert (*1963 in Frankfurt am Main) did not have the patience and calm he exhibits in creating his miniature, stage settings?immortalized in photographs made with a large-format analog camera?his ?small worlds? would lose the charm we?ve grown so fond of through his previous publications, Verkehrte Welt (Inverted world) and Wunderland. Here, the ordinary quickly reaches its limits and traverses beyond ad absurdum, while tragedy veers into comedy, and wit becomes debatable. Kunert?s works exist between the poles of grotesque and metaphysics. His new book, Lifestyle, adds twenty-four miniatures to these philosophically based stories of everyday life.

Natural science buffs, graphics professionals, and anyone interested in the visual expression of ideas will be fascinated by this tribute to Fritz Kahn, the German infographics pioneer who excelled in the demystification of complex scientific ideas and whose inspired creative concepts have influenced generations of artists and communicators...

Charming photographs of cinematic icons Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Marilyn Monroe and countless others.

Miklos Gaal is one of the most successful representatives of the young generation of Finnish photographers whose fresh, untainted view of modern civilization has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Visuality, nostalgia and a light, playful spirit characterize his photographs. They are scenic images of events recording significant and absent-minded moments. The explicit partial blurred focus guides the viewer's gaze, leading it through the pictorial plane along an unexpected route. The gaze zooms in and out in the static photograph. The recognizable focused area is emphasized, creating a reinforced feeling of diversity. Distance and blurred resolution are means of distancing that make the pictures melancholy and humoristic. Familiar themes are studied with a childlike seriousness.

"Something strange is going on in the photographs by Frank Kunert: the table set for two has been so cleverly built around a corner that neither of the diners has to see the other, yet they can both watch their own television. Or a desk has a built-in bed for the much-desired office nap. And the outdoor toilet is located further away than one might hope for in an emergency - namely, on the moon. Kunert, a model builder and photographer, creates images of this kind in weeks of painstaking attention to detail, lending expression to the grotesque outgrowths of civilized life that is as humorous and exhilirating as it is profound. The ambivalence between tragedy and humour piques the artist time and again and permeates his surreal-looking visual worlds in an inexhaustible variety of ways. Melancholy and skewed wit are closely related in this wonderland of absurdities." -- back cover.