Norbert Maier

Schon als Kind ist Achim Koerfer (geb.1969) von den Möglichkeiten der Fotografie fasziniert. Spielerisch-experimentell erschließt er sich bereits mit acht Jahren verschiedene Fototechniken. Im Laufe der Jahre entwickelt er autodidaktisch mithilfe der analogen Mehrfachbelichtung ein Verfahren, das charakteristisch für sein gesamtes Schaffen ist. Er schult sein Gedächtnis und prägt sich jede seiner Aufnahmen bis ins Detail ein. So werden aus zunächst eher zufälligen Kompositionen bewusst gestaltete, vielschichtige Bildwelten – in sich stimmig und von hoher Ausdruckskraft. Durch dezente Akzente bei der digitalen Nachbearbeitung verschmelzen die Grenzen zwischen Fotografie und Malerei, die dem Betrachter einen Zugang zu dem Werk eröffnen. Achim Koerfer zählt heute wohl zu den bekanntesten sozialkritischen Künstlern in Deutschland und setzt sich intensiv mit drängenden gesellschaftlichen Themen auseinander. In seinen Werkreihen inszeniert er diese Fehlentwicklungen in immer wieder neu- und einzigartigen Bildwelten. Wenn auch von bestechender Ästhetik ist ihre Wirkung dennoch polarisierend und motiviert zum Überdenken des eigenen Standpunkts. Koerfer gehört aber nicht zu denen, die Missstände nur anprangern und sich moralisch erheben. Es ist seine zutiefst innere Überzeugung, dass jeder Einzelne aktiv werden sollte, um gesellschaftliche Verbesserungen herbeizuführen und Benachteiligten zu helfen. Eine Überzeugung, die er lebt und für die er sich seit vielen Jahren in den Dienst karitativer Organisationen stellt.

Website des Künstlers: www.unikatfabrik.de


It was already as a child that Achim Koerfer (born in 1969) was fascinated by the boundless possibilities of Photography. At the early age of 8, he started acquiring various photographic techniques in the course of playful experimentation. In succeeding years, he developed a self-taught method involving in situ multiple exposures on film which became his signature technique and the salient feature of his work to date. He trained his memory to grasp the motifs he superimposes, one upon the other on film, down to the last detail. In this fashion, what appear to be chance compositions at first glance, reveal themselves to be complex images specifically designed to appeal to the beholder on manifold levels, manifesting compelling consistency and expressive power. With a discreet degree of subsequent digital processing, Koerfer sets the tone, lifting the barriers between Photography and Painting to draw the beholder into his world. Achim Koerfer is arguably one of the best-known socio-critical artists in Germany earnestly addressing topical and pressing social issues. He employs his photo sequences to decry social ills in terms of captivatingly novel and unique imagery whose uncompromising beauty nonetheless polarizes and elicits liberating debate to encourage the beholder to rethink his own position. Koerfer is not one to content himself with simply condemning social evils from a stance of alleged moral superiority. He is of the deep personal conviction that each and every one of us should do his part and take action to make a better world and aid the underprivileged. For him it is a matter of deep personal commitment to place his art and his efforts in the service of charitable organizations, as he has been doing for years.

Artist’s website: www.unikatfabrik.de/en

... später ...

Alexander was born in Germany in 1971. He always was a creative person – playing one of the leads in school theater in 4th grade, winning the painting contest of his school as a 5th grader, singing Gregorian chants in the choir, composing music on the computer – it was only logical that he would sooner or later discover photography as well. His first contact with photography was at the age of 10 already, with his parent’s Polaroid instant film camera – getting himself into trouble when he used up one of the expensive cartridges with 10 polaroids within just one hour…

It was not until the advent of affordable digital photography however when he finally made photography the primary outlet for his creativity in late 2006, starting with a borrowed digital SLR camera. Alexander was always fond of working with computers, and digital photography and the artistic freedom that comes along with it was a natural choice for him.

The processing of his images on the computer is an essential and genuine part of his work. Editing the images never compromises the original take on his subjects, but enhances it, allowing his audience to experience more closely what he saw and felt. Though digitally developed and enhanced, his images always retain their purity and authenticity.

Admirers of his work have repeatedly compared his approach to photography with the “contemplation of nature” by classic German painter Caspar David Friedrich, where not an accurate depiction and reproduction of reality is the goal, but an idealized version of it that one might see with his or her inner eye only.

Mein Name ist Elke Balzen
und ich komme aus dem schönen Taunus,hier bin ich auch mit meiner Kamera unterwegs.Ich liebe die Natur ,und halte mich gerne im freien auf.Ich bin nicht auf bestimmte Themen festgelegt und fotografiere alles was mir gefällt.