Anton Corbijn
WERK

Exhibition:
September 24 to October 24, 2004
(photogalerie 94 at Kunstraum Baden)

Opening:
Thursday, September 23, 2004, 7pm
Introduction by Christian Eggenberger,
Producer SF DRS und Publisher PHOTOsuisse

Culture at lunchtime:
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 12.15 - 1.30pm
Guided tour by Sascha Laue

Finissage:
Saturday, October 24, 2004, 0 - 4pm

Anton Corbijn
It has been a good 30 years since Anton Corbijn, born in Strijen in 1955, discovered photography thanks to his love of music. This happened in 1972 when, as a student at a Dutch high school, he used his father's camera to take pictures at an open-air concert. As a self-taught photographer, he has changed his approach to photography several times, but has remained true to his first subjects and has repeatedly explored the theme of artists and musicians.
Looking back, Corbijn's work can be divided into four phases: his early years in Holland through the late 1980s in England, his portrait photography of the 1990s, his faux documentary photography of the late 1990s, and his self-portrait series from 2001 and 2002.
Initially, Corbijn photographed in black and white in a style close to documentary photography. The images from this period, in which the surroundings still play an important role, can probably be explained by his shyness and reserve, which must also be linked to his upbringing. After these photographs were published in 1989 in a book called “FAMOUZ,” named after the famous people he photographed and an allusion to his own pronunciation, he began his new work “STAR TRAK.” This title is also a play on words, hinting at the photographer's now more active search for his subjects, as well as the fact that not only musicians but also film directors, actors, writers, and models, among others, are now included in the project. The publication of his first book helped him gain access to the latter. Because these pictures were no longer taken with a Nikon but with a Hasselblad, and because the photographs were no longer purely black and white but were printed on a special paper that Anton called “Lithprint,” the style of this photo series also changed toward portrait photography. Like the earlier black-and-white photographs, these images also quickly became popular and were copied in many places. In response to this global trend of copying his style and changing the way stars were photographed in general, Corbijn decided to embark on a project that would show them in a mysterious atmosphere. The images in this series were taken partly by pseudopaparazzi, i.e., staged paparazzi, and partly from staged film recordings. This exploration resulted in the series called “STILL LIVES” and the accompanying book “33 STILL LIVES,” whose title referred to the importance of the number and indicated that there were 33 images in the book, each of which was absolutely unique (the series was published in 1999, the year of the big investment boom, and the number 33 is a very important number for many people). These images were produced in true paparazzi style, i.e., with a Leica equipped with a flash and printed on color paper, with only the colors red and blue standing out. In a sense, this process was a rediscovery for Corbijn of his first love in photography, documentary photography, only this time the process was also staged.
Corbijn recently completed another project entitled “a. somebody, strijen, holland,” which is a series of self-portraits. A catalog with the same title was published in December 2002.
During his career, Corbijn has not devoted himself exclusively to art photography, but has also fulfilled a wide range of commissions for the design of LP and CD covers and many magazine assignments. In addition, he has directed the production of more than 70 music videos (including videos for U2, Johnny Cash, Mercury Rev, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Metallica, Nick Cave), as well as a short film called
“Some Yo Yo Stuff” with and about Don van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart. He was responsible for the stage design and on-stage effects for the group Depeche Mode during three world tours. In 2002, he also completed a live CD of the band's Exciter Tour entitled “One Night in Paris.”
His exhibitions have been hugely successful in Europe and are considered groundbreaking in photography, partly because they occupy a space between serious but pure music photography and art photography, and because they appeal equally to music aficionados and museum visitors.