Peter Franck is a German photographer living and working in, Stuttgart, Germany. He completed studies at the University of Fine Arts in Nürnberg (Ba) and the University of Fine Arts in Stuttgart (Ma). His work examines the limitations of photography through surreal and often unsettling compositional techniques,. His work however, retains a constant sense of nostalgia, grounding the viewer in the utopian Modernist setting of the 1950s and ‘60s yet withstanding its connotations of transition and tension. Through his series’ he has explored the remnants of utopian symbolism and its relevance to contemporary society, as well as unpacking the conceptual grounding of the found image.

 

Franck places much of his work within the specified time period of high Modernism, echoing the period where black and white, and rich technicolour photography became available to the masses through the Kodak revolution. His work is therefore inherently political, referencing the commerciality of vision and dualities of censorship in the late 20th century. Through exploring physical and digital photo-archives, Peter Franck discovered images which allowed insight into the everyday of bygone lives, violating their privacy. His work however often anonymises figures and settings, allowing him to create formulated realities in which ideas of isolation, kitsch, and performative social roles can be explored sensitively.

 

Peter Franck’s architectural photography presents a question of what remains of the city? Which buildings maintain their once dominant allure of promise? Franck abstracts buildings acting as signifiers of the West: the homestead, the war monument, the steel bridge; bringing to light the falsified idealities imposed upon the otherwise arbitrary evidence of humanity’s might. His ability to tactfully capture and impose chiaroscuric effects upon his works, forcefully brings forth ideas on which to dwell.

 

Arthill Gallery will be displaying works from Peter Franck’s series’: Back to the Future (2014 – 2017); The Kodak Moment (2015 – 2018); Postcards from Heaven (2017 – 2018); and Back to the Future 2 (2017 – 2019). These series’ cover a range of complex themes, yet remain stylistically constant to Franck’s own artistic vision. Franck effortlessly progresses through concepts, presenting stark visual austerity whilst also displaying an ability to use colour in a highly complex manner.