Stars of Truth
A portrait series by Volker Schrank
The exhibition
Stars of Truth
A portrait series by Volker Schrank
Today, mass media – and foremost television – is the focal center of events, which would not occur without the existence of mass media. It serves as a functional prerequisite for political decision-making, market actions and cultural life. In its reporting, the mass media conveys the notion of what is important and right, influencing what the majority thinks and feels – what the majority demands and condemns. Only what the journalist depicts is real and relevant, what is not depicted as real and relevant is meaningless.
In Stars of Truth, Volker Schrank has sought out those persons, who, every evening, present what we have become used to see as relevant: the newscasters and moderators of daily infotainment shows. In his work, Volker Schrank frees these persons – familiar to us from television in small formats and more or less in motion – from the familiar context. He shows them in the classic repertoire of portrait painters and his instructions for their pose is very precise. Schrank presents the figure looming from above in a three-quarter profile in front of an almost monochrome background, illuminated in strong colors to highlight the figure. These are certainly individual portraits, but in addition, Volker Schrank also focuses on creating a type, an abstraction. All portraits have in common the upright posture, the stretched neck, and the head facing upward. However – different from television where the gaze is directed into the camera and suggestively fixates on the viewer – the gaze here passes over the camera off into the distance, into the supernatural. Irritated, we are no longer certain if we can still believe everything from those who look over us in such a manner.
bildkultur presents the portrait series as an exhibition:
Produced on Canvas Fine-Art-Print in steel frames
Measurements: 115 x 160 cm
Edition: 7 + 1
© Volker Schrank / bildkultur 2006
The portraits
| Ellen Arnhold | ard |
| Brigitte Bastgen | zdf |
| Dagmar Berghoff | ard |
| Robert Biegert | kabel 1 |
| Joachim 'Jo' Brauner | ard |
| Wolfgang Klein | pro 7 |
| Peter Kloeppel | rtl |
| Wolfram Kons | rtl |
| Ulrich Meyer | sat 1 |
| Jens Riewa | ard |
| Claus Seibel | zdf |
| Wilhelm Wieben | ard |
The artist
Volker Schrank
lives
and works in Stuttgart. In 1999, he won the Award of the Federation of
Independent Photo Designers. In 2000, he received a scholarship from the
Art Foundation Baden-Württemberg.
He became well-known for his collection Stars of Truth, which
portrayed Germany's major television newscasters in a new artistic way.
He unwaveringly devotes himself to the photographic exploration of myths.
www.volker-schrank.de >>