There is something mesmerising about Christian Voigt's photographs: the empty Hall of Fame of the Rijksmuseum with its blue walls and infinite ornate columns looks like a quiet place as calm as paradise; the museum's research library feels instead like the fantastically giant reading room of a reclusive book lover living in a grand mansion. Colours explode in his barber and hairdresser series with salons from Cambodia to Vietnam, from Oman to China and Myanmar, captured in all their desolate beauty.
A volume entitled Christian Voigt Photography (scheduled to be published by teNeues in August 2015) now offers readers the chance to see some of his best and most enchanting works compiled in one volume.
Born in Munich and now based in Hamburg, Voigt is known for his vividly colourful photographs and oversized works. Voigt uses both analog and digital large-format cameras to create the desired effect of a greatly condensed image.
Though the final image looks like a digitally altered and enhanced version of an ordinary picture, Voigt develops his unique visual language with his camera and not with a computer. The result is mesmerising with images characterised by imposing formats in intense artificial colours.
Wherever Voigt goes – Egypt, Israel, Italy or Bhutan – he always manages to capture the local street life, architectures and landscapes, creating hyper-real pictures with a fable-like or imaginary aura around them that has the power to transform a souvenir shop in Musat, Oman, cluttered with jewellery, pendants, necklaces and beads, in a secret treasure cove.
The ruby red raw meat on a market stall in Myanmar, the vibrantly fluorescent pink or blue lights in a tattoo parlour in Buenos Aires, the sparkling golden domes of temples in Yangon, Myanmar, the emerald green rice terraces of Bali and the vividly coloured paintings on the walls of the Tango Cathedral in Buenos Aires, re-awaken the sense of wonder of viewers, while his museum series with images that are eight meters wide make viewers gape in awe.
The book - with a cover dedicated to the New York-based Morgan Library - could be considered as an anthology that includes Voigt's monumental pictures of vast spaces and buildings, his archetypal landscapes with a mythical or fairy-tale quality about them, several examples of historical architectures such as ancient temples, monasteries and churches, his street life and urban images portraying vividly coloured fruit market stalls in Cambodia and dilapidated seven storey buildings in Myanmar.
Leafing through Christian Voigt Photography is a bit like taking a trip across continents and places, while finding a new aesthetic and visual culture in a deeply and intensely coloured adventure.
Christian Voigt Photography is published by teNeues.
Image credits for this post
1. Christian Voigt Photography, cover. The Morgan Library III, New York, USA, 2015, Photo ©
2. Hairdresser, Beijing, China, 2010, Photo © 2015 Christian Voigt Collection & Photography GmbH. All rights reserved.
3. Fruit Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2010, Photo © 2015 Christian Voigt Collection & Photography GmbH. All rights reserved.
4. 7 Floors, Myanmar, 2014, Photo © 2015 Christian Voigt Collection & Photography GmbH. All rights reserved.
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