The camera’s architectural eye

Norwegian artist Freddy Larsen grew up in Brooklyn with a view of Manhattan’s breathtaking skyline, which decisively sparked his passion for architecture.

After studying at New York’s Institute for Photography, he first worked for over twenty years at advertising agencies. In 2008, however, he established a second residence in Spain – and has nurtured a fascination for the architecture of Barcelona.

Since then he has grappled photographically with buildings as sculptural objects, which he captures from breathtaking angles in order to lend expression to the dynamic movement inherent to their skyscraping lithe and curvaceous bends and folds. His cropping selections allow roof constructions to soar like sails into the sky; under extreme lighting conditions, halls of icy white resemble giant seashells. In his Spanish series, Larsen celebrates architecture as a sensual experience of space, light, and material.

Sectional views and perspectives from below allow Larsen to optically stage stereometric bodies in a way that never reveals the complete image but rather characterizes architecture as a convolution of urban space. These architectural visions reveal remarkable perspectives that lend the buildings a certain motion, stretch them and round them out. Larsen’s photographic style has garnered international recognition thanks to the tectonics his photographs are able to simulate.

Leica magazine dubs Larsen the “architectural eye” among photographers, and Spanish art institutions such as the renowned Altea Institute invite him for lectures and exhibitions. He photographs the metallic, glass, and concrete-clad white surfaces under radiant light in both color and black-and-white and allows even the silhouettes of cloud formations compete with the architecture’s lively structures. It is simply impossible not to be captivated by Larsen’s amorphous compositions.

Christina Wendenburg