LOVE OF DETAIL

Ingrid Kern’s “Dia-gramme” embody the genius of early photography. The desire to discover, work with, and visually reveal and often enlarge everyday structures, to manifest particular details and patterns – these are the traits and qualities that early nineteenth-century experimental photography and Kern’s “Dia-gramme” share. The latter, however, are very contemporary; their color and liveliness go beyond the more scientific work of the artist’s photographic forefathers, who are now enshrined in the halls of photographic history.

“Dia-Gramme” have one particular characteristic in common with their predecessors: space in the image is reduced to one layer, in which the patterns of nature, as well those industrially produced, can unfold. Characteristic of her work are the rhythmic surfaces, the exact delineation between zones of movement and placidity, and the treatment of the finest tonal and color values. Each detail receives its due.

Her renouncement of the often-dominating camera brings to light the original idea behind the photographic arts. She instead places her selection of organic and synthetic fibers between glass plates and projects them directly onto light-sensitive material, removing altogether any need for a camera.

Her goal is to comprehend the world’s beauty by simple, uncomplicated means and to convey it directly. And Kern certainly adept at this, despite her training in another field. She is a professional interior designer, but as she herself says: “Anyone who has a sense of space knows how to design surfaces.” She is thus a masterly jack of many trades, and this ability is visible in every fiber of the sharply depicted plants and textiles of her “Dia-Grams”.

Horst Kloever