Monday, May 23, 2011

Tondo

Susanne Brügger, Augentrost. Vororte im Visier #1, 2006-2008

Susanne Brügger's art probably represents the very first time that I found the use of tondo applied to photography, and thus creating a fascinating set of contrasts. Her suburban images have that feeling of stolen glances and subtle awkwardness that remind of Michael Wolf's Google View series, and although they are much more composed and rich in details than those screen grabs, you still wonder at times if those images do have an author or are just another product of some technological invisible eye. Then there's the round edge of the images, enclosing all the straight lines of the street views and bringing us back to the miniature paintings or the art from the XVI century.


Susanne Brügger, Augentrost. Vororte im Visier #13, 2006-2008

Susanne Brügger, Augentrost. Vororte im Visier #10, 2006-2008

Lack of informations in languages other than German leaves me guessing about the initial idea behind the project and the meaning of Augentrost. Vororte im Visier, which seems to be the title.

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna del Melograno, c. 1487

The tondos were soft borders sealing with their shape the importance of what they were showing, Brügger's suburban circles on the contrary seem to enhance the feeling of shapelessness of our cities, a sea of edges and corners where curved lines seem to have no place to be.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Tondo Doni, 1506-1507

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Le Bain turc, c. 1862

(thanks again to Joscha)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm Vittore Buzzi but I would like to say that Mr. Vittore Fossati (a well known Italian photographer) has used tondo for many, many years... This a remind to painters. I knew Mr. Vittore Fossati 18 years ago while I was studying photography with Mrs. Roberta Valtorta curator of Museum of Contemporary Photography in Milan Italy ( http://www.mufoco.org/ ). Mr Fossati is shy and is not well known outside Italy.