Aurum

Michael Wissing, who describes himself as a photo designer, is considered one of Germany’s most skilled still life photographers. Tirelessly he tinkers on new tricks and techniques that lend his images such an unmistakable and exciting aesthetic. He arranges breathtaking food scenes for exclusive cookbooks and presents design objects in their best light for companies’ presentations. As studio director for the exclusive porcelain maker Villeroy und Bosch, he has created photo series that have won multiple prizes from the Art Directors Club.

In his new series of blossoms Aurum he employs gold leaf with virtuosity. The material used most commonly in bygone ages for the glowing nimbi in portraits of saints Wissing here uses for his impressive “blooming magic.” Positioned in front of the gold leaf his refined flowers – roses, poppies, tulips, thistles – are elevated to objects of desire. In the glow of the precious metal backdrop, the flowers look particularly costly as they defoliate or as the luscious petals expand shortly before withering. The interplay of nature’s colors and the subtle matte tones of the gold enchant the viewer through the brilliant effects of the light and the objects. Wissing has mastered the genre of flower still lifes from unusual and new vantage points. He creates a dialogue between the radiance of the coveted gold – Aurum in Latin – and the flower’s beauty. In doing so, Wissing reprieves these fleeting moments of their transience, securing stunningly.

Christina Wendenburg