Bernheimer Fine Art Switzerland is pleased to announce the exhibition Fragile Welten (Fragile Worlds) by German photographer Gregor Törzs. The show is curated by Dr. Martina Kral, curator of world renowned Collection Rosengart in Lucerne since 2002.
It is like responding to a reflex, when Gregor Törzs finds something he feels the inner longing to hold it against the light. Whether it is a place, an object or a moment, for him it always refers to transparency and the hidden qualities of fragility, love, secret or perfection.
The exhibition features a selection from all his photographic series demonstrating how this approach runs like a read thread trough his oevre of the last ten years. From the early works capturing wildlife on gently exposed photographic negativs, over the coral cliffs, that he realized by using printed glass plates in the Red Sea, to his insects mirrored on wafer-thin silk paper. His works invite the viewer on a journey through foreign and yet familiar worlds always reminding how fragile life is.
Born 1970, Gregor Toerzs´ background and training make his approach to art unique. He started his career as a trainee in advertising in his hometown Hamburg. With nineteen he was drawn to Los Angeles, where he learned the film craft from Academy Award winning special effect experts John Dykstra and Dough Smith; later he worked as a lighting technician and a cinematographer. In 1993, he became Director of Photography, working with famed photographer Michel Comte and establishing himself in the world of advertising and fashion, working with major stars and commercial brands. Today, Törzs mainly focuses on art photography and platinum printing. He lives and works in Berlin.
In 2006 Törzs introduced his fine art photography with his series “Boy on Safari”, depicted in dark landscapes of surreal appearance entirely shot in dioramas.In his photographs one can see Törzs’ incredible ability to create striking pictures, using only the light at hand.
His “Ciel Lourd” series in 2008 is a continuation of his interest in photographing a world between the seeming and the being. For this series, he created a waterproof housing for his favorite old camera and spent hundreds of hours underwater. Törzs also took large matte paintings with him into the ocean in order to create these surreal underwater moments. A technique that was used in movies before computers took over the world of visual FX.
Throughout the years he has also been interested in microscopic photography, as can be seen in his photographs of watch movements, gemstones and insects. For his microtype series “Plus grand que Moi” in 2010, Törzs introduced the art of platinum printing to his work. In this elaborate method of photography he creates his platinum prints with his own hands, adapting each sheet to the demands of his negatives. He often uses handcrafted Japanese paper, such as razor thin gampi paper. There are only a few labs worldwide that can offer and are capable of delivering these high standards of platinum prints, which is why Törzs’ dedication and mastery of such a complicated printing method adds another layer to his work.
In 2014 he designed and built the first 9×14“ analog underwater camera in the world, the Ultramarine 914. With it‘s 24x36cm superlarge format negative, it captures an emotion of the underwater world in a way one has never seen before.
In addition to Törzs’ underwater photography that year, he also introduced platinum photograms to his body of work. The series “Bliss” is directly printed from glass plates which are treated with complex salt solutions. The results are extremely fine and fragile depictions of abstract naturally grown formations.
Gregor Törzs‘ work is regularly shown in solo and group shows as well as trade fares such as APAD and Paris Photo. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Martina Kral, who works as curator of the Rosengart Collection in Lucerne, since 2003 she is project manger of “children leading children” and since 2006 professor of the Senior Citizens’ University in Lucerne. Furthermore she holds in a variety of professional acitivities such as author, speaker, lecturear and art mediator.
Gregor Törzs
FRAGILE WORLDS (FRAGILE WELTEN)
9 Jun – 16 Jul 2016
Bernheimer Fine Art
Haldenstr. 11
6006 Luzern
www.bernheimer.ch
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
© Gregor Törzs: Fragile Worlds
