Christoph Gielen
Christoph Gielen’s photographs have been gaining visibility in the United States and Europe in the past two years. His solo show “Arcadia” was featured at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York from November 2008 through January 2009. Previous exhibitions have included the 2008 “REAL Photography Award” show at the Nederlands Foto Museum in Rotterdam, Holland; the 2007 Rencontres d’Arles festival “Voies Off” in France; the 2006 “New American Talent” traveling exhibition, launched by Arthouse at the Jones Center in Austin, Texas; and the “Traffic” biennial at New York’s Exit Art in 2005. Excerpts of Gielen’s work have appeared in publications such as Cabinet, Lapham’s Quarterly and Adbusters. His pictures are in several American and European collections, including the ING Bank Photography collection in Holland, and at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Thematically, his photography always probes quality-of-life standards in the context of urban growth and development. He frequently approaches his subjects from aerial perspectives with helicopters, and often photographs at night. Vince Aletti of The New Yorker writes that “His aerial shots… are fascinating for their clarity and detail... Other photographs bring us back down to earth, but the sights are no less alienating. Looking up at [Gielen’s pictures] you can imagine yourself to be the last person on earth.” And Jodi Hanel, director of development at the Queens Museum of Art, declares that “Christoph Gielen’s incredible series of photos, Conversions, [deals with subject matter that] represents a central part of American culture. Gielen grew up in Germany in the years of complacency following the postwar economic boom. He relocated to New York as a student and received a BFA in photography from Parsons School of Design, where master silkscreen printer Marie Dormuth of Andy Warhol’s Factory was his mentor. Gielen’s formative years were shaped by his longstanding association with Mitch Epstein, with whom he closely collaborated for over a decade. He lives and works in New York City and in Bonn, Germany. |
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