Artist: Eric Winkler

In his solo exhibition Eric Winkler shows selected photographs from his new book “Sog“.

The pictures made since 2007 expose very private snapshots or casual meetings of people of his milieu as well as photographs of animals, landscapes and rooms.

The narrowness of many of his scenes makes it difficult to localize them and at the same time drags the viewer into the picture. Thus, even the landscape shot of the Sinai Desert doesn’t convey a feeling of freedom and wideness: The view from the peak is directed downwards to the valley, that may be vast but is narrowed by massive mountains.

The “Sog”, the, pull or drawing power of his images lies in the riddles they pose and in the questions they prompt. There is always something hidden, whether the door of a car blocks one’s view or parts of his subject disappear in blur. Sometimes a detail gives a clue about the place or the situation the photographs were taken. Then the viewer can surmise a story behind the picture.

On the other hand his pictures aren’t lacking explicitness and immediacy. Eric Winkler doesn’t hesitate to hit the release in very intimate moments. Quite the contrary – he knowingly integrates such moments. Friends and acquaintances become protagonists of his pictures and give a very personal insight in his life. Since he is not the observer from a safe distance but himself a part of the happenings he captures on film, he succeeds the balancing act between shamelessness and shamefulness.

The images of varying places exhibited together convey a feeling of being on the road – of waking up in a unknown room, seeing an foreign landscape through the window, next to you in bed a new person... But they aren’t travel photographs I classical sense, they tell moiré about the photographer than about the world.

The book „Sog” will be released in an edition of 80 and is available at the gallery during the exhibition.