Miriam Böhm
Monday, 7 March 2011
Work from her oeuvre.
“In her photographs, Böhm enquirers into the very nature of the art object; how it is made, perceived, and how way we derive meaning from it. She uses the act of photography as a series of iterations, taking many photographs of one object or motif, from different perspectives, and then arranging these pictures into three-dimensional arrangements. These are then re-photographed several times to make seamless images. Employing a documentary-style, Böhm uses common, almost deadpan, motifs, such as landscapes, fragments of buildings, plants, flags, or materials, including fabric, marble, and cardboard. By assembling different views into one picture, Böhm attempts to develop an image-language that functions differently than our usual way of reading a straight photographs.
With this new series of work, Böhm explores the idea of the art object as inventory. As in her previous work, the gaps between the photographs, shadows, changes in color and scale, become integral parts of the composition and of the image. Even the surfaces and fabric backgrounds, against which she photographs, become both grounds for presentation and elements within the work. Böhm’s artistic practice utilizes the conceptual techniques of re-photography and appropriation, as well as several traditional techniques usually referred to as studio practices. By analyzing all the different steps, in terms of concept, model, reference, content, form, and presence, Böhm’s proposes new ways of examining ideas of photographic representation and pictorial illusion.” – Ratio 3