20.06.2020 – 29.08.2020
The exhibition presents a selection of new portraits from Martin Schoeller‘s legendary »Close Up« series for the first time worldwide. The selection includes famous international personalities such as Metallica, Michael Douglas, Toni Garrn, Anne Hathaway, Kobe Bryant, George Clooney, and Michael Jordan in a unique and incomparable visual language. A comprehensive photobook entitled »Works« was published by Steidl this year.
Martin Schoeller levels people from various backgrounds on the same platform, inviting comparison in a democratizing approach to portraiture that depicts famous subjects such as Robert De Niro or Christopher Walken with the same technical treatment. Schoeller started his »Close Up« series over 22 years ago. The exhibition showcases works created since 2005, when CAMERA WORK hosted his first »Close Up« exhibition. In this series the German artist photographs each of his subjects’ faces with the same camera angle, lens, and lighting. The expressions are consistently neutral, serious yet relaxed, in an attempt to tease out people’s differences and capture moments »that feel intimate, unposed.« Just like in a trusting relationship, the portrayed individuals accept the photographer’s rules, which have lent to his unique style that became a trademark around the world. These rules, for example, include the minimal utilization of make-up as well as doing without beauty or skin touch-up in post-production. The result is a more vulnerable, mask-less form of expression, enabling an easier study of faces and personalities.