Candida Hofer, who was born in Eberswalde, Germany in 1944, is one of the many acclaimed artists who have learned the traditions of the deadpan aesthetic while studying with the great Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. Like her fellow peers, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, and Thomas Ruff, Hofer maintains a cool, detached mood throughout her work. She is known for her exquisite deadpan photographs of public spaces and institutions, which are eerily devoid of people. She has photographic collections of libraries, offices, theaters and more locations. Absence and ambience are her two central concepts; time passes in these public locations and the lighting shifts, and the viewer is reminded of haunted spaces where once life flourished. She is interested in the formal qualities of these spaces, yet it is not the design of the locations alone that draws the viewer's attention; in a good number of these scenes, there are hints that people have just left or will be returning soon.
I am aiming towards this direction with my current series. I love the cool quality of light in these interiors. The absence that I was hinting at with the first part of this year's series is quieter in my new work, but no less apparent, I feel. Hofer's series is similar to my own, in terms of the angles and locations, yet I want to put more emphasis on individual objects and incorporate dramatic lighting.
http://www.renabranstengallery.com/hofer.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E3DA173AF936A25753C1A9629C8B63
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/hfer_candida.php
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