Dear friends of the gallery, please join us on Thursday, May 22, at 6 pm for the opening of Jessica Backhaus‘s exhibition of ‘Plein Soleil’. We look forward to seeing you!
Colour and form, light and shadow – the abstract compositions of the series ‘Plein Soleil’ by Jessica Backhaus reduce the images to the four basic elements of photography. As in her previous project ‘Cut Outs’, the artist arranges coloured paper of different textures and grammages in intense, summery sunlight. Individual sheets are folded or curved, creating hard shadows and vibrant colour fields that the camera combines into poetic arrangements. In her work, Backhaus explores the photographic possibilities of abstraction, blurring the lines between documentary photography and intuitive, lyrical colour figuration.
Jessica Backhaus (*1970, Cuxhaven, Germany) is regarded as one of the most important voices in contemporary photography. Her work has been exhibited internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Kunsthalle, Erfurt, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, Centre de la Photographie Genève, and the Centre de la Photographie in Mougins. The publication of ‘Cut Outs’ (2021) was nominated for both the Arles Book Award and the Aperture/Paris Photo Book Award. The book for the new series ‘Plein Soleil’ is published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, in spring 2024. Jessica Backhaus lives and works in Berlin.
Opening Reception on Thursday, May 22, 6-9 pm
Exhibition from May 23 to July 19, 2025