There are photographs that leave you speechless and others that arouse intense emotions. What differentiates them, probably the talent of the author to restore us a moment and our sensitivity to his glance.
Josef Hoflehner is one of those photographers whose work cannot leave one indifferent. And yet, the artist offers us an art that is very popular with the general public: landscape photography. But far from a photograph limited to showing us a place, Josef Hoflehner chooses to show us the soul of a place, in a kind of tribute full of delicacy. The artist won the IPA(International Photography Awards) Grand Prize for Nature Photography in the United States in 2007.
As soon as you enter the Acte2 Gallery, you can’t help but be drawn in by the peaceful Japanese landscapes, which quickly give way to the very visual landings over the beaches of Saint-Martin, above the bathers. Previously, the tangled trees in Hawaii seem to be there only to encourage us to enjoy this oasis of calm. One look and here we are sharing his emotion, a bit like a reverse Stendhal syndrome. And yes, the strength of these very contrasted photographs is in this impression, we have the impression to hear the deafening noise of these planes or better to enjoy the calm of certain chosen places. His photographs are sound, they transport the person who looks at them exactly in the places they show, they force him to question his relationship to nature.
Josef Hoflehner lives in Austria where he was born in 1955. He travels all over the world, preferably in the most remote corners, to make his masterful photos of beauty. He favors large formats and black and white, his signature. His favorite technique: the long exposure. A technique that requires you to take your time, to understand the light, to anticipate the wind, the movements of the clouds, the even imperceptible changes of luminosity. A perfectly mastered technique that forces him to be in communion with the landscape he wishes to restore to us. And it works. I see myself on this bridge in China in the midst of reflection, walking lost in my thoughts and enjoying the quietness of a place in harmony with myself.
The exhibition « Sublime » proposed by the Acte2 Gallery from April 7 to May 29, 2010 is a mixture of these different series of landscapes full of fog from the series « Unleashed » to his planes in full landing of his series « Jet Airliner » through the series « China », « Iceland » and « Nine 9 ».
You have until the end of May to dive into these landscapes. Landscape photography will never be the same for you after this experience, trust me.
As this exhibition says so well, his photos are sublime.
Photo credits: © Josef Hoflehner, Courtesy of Acte2galerie, Paris
Acte2 Gallery
41 rue d’Artois 75008 Paris
www.acte2photo.com
Marie-Odile Radom
