VON FUNCK / SCHUMACHER: WAHRNEHMUNGEN

At first glance, the pho­to­gra­phic style of both artists could not be more dif­fe­rent. While Die­mut von Funck pro­du­ces movement-based images with her camera that have lar­gely become inde­pen­dent in their own right, Ste­fan Schu­ma­cher approa­ches his archi­tec­tu­ral sce­nes with a con­scious, descrip­tive dis­tance and avo­ids every aspect of enli­vening the images. Schu­ma­cher adds to this through his use of sub­dued light that eli­mi­na­tes any cast shadow. Where these two groups of works merge is exactly at the point that requi­res the viewer to work for his or her own visual expe­ri­ence with help from their own cogni­tion. Ulti­mately, Die­mut von Funck mana­ges a poly­chrome, pic­to­rial rea­lity that inves­ti­ga­tes the depth bet­ween abstrac­tion and accu­rate repro­duc­tion, achie­ving an aes­the­tic gain as a result of this tran­si­tion. Ste­fan Schumacher’s works, in con­trast, are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by an onto­lo­gi­cal grasp of rea­lity. Upon clo­ser inspec­tion, Schumacher’s com­ple­tely unspec­ta­cu­lar loca­li­ties reveal color rela­ti­onships, as well as struc­tu­ral rela­ti­onships, wit­hin a micro– and macro­sco­pic con­text. What is seen in the image will be under­s­tood as sym­bo­lic and worked out accor­din­gly. Both artists are wor­thy of clo­ser examination.