Monday Entry: Birthe Piontek

This week's artist, Birthe Piontek was born in Leer, Germany in 1976. She studied language and German literature as an undergraduate, and went on to obtain her Master's in Communication Design and Photography in 2004 from the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her current work, which is titled, Sub Rosa studies the vulnerability of youth versus the experience and hardship found inevitably in adulthood. Piontek's series is a combination of staged portraits and still lifes, which work together to hint at a narrative. Her work is both visually striking and familiar; perhaps her imagery is recognizable because it taps into our own memories of that transition to adolescence. Piontek sights Anna Gaskell, Jeff Wall, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia as influences, and their affect on her work can be clearly detected. Her image of a milk bottle emptying its contents on a staircase is especially Gaskell-esque. The lighting on the bottles is quite ethereal and the picture is riven with deep shadows.

Like the artists' work that has impacted her, Piontek's photographs caught my eye immediately. Her visual storytelling techniques are refined and subtle. The subjects in her portraits do not seem to fit into a specific time period, which is especially intriguing. I admire the seamless manner in which she arranges portraits and still lifes together to express her narratives. It may be that I am just attached to Gaskell, Wall, and diCorcia's artwork, but I find her photographs fascinating.

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