Frank Breuer
Frank Breuer (1963- ) is a German photographer who studied under the notable photography professor Bernhard Becher at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, an academy of fine arts in Germany. Breuer travelled from 2003-2004 and became a visiting lecturer on visual and environmental studies at Harvard University. Breuer’s work holds many similarities to that of the Becher’s, focusing on capturing industrial buildings, storage units, telephone poles and detached shipping trailers in barren landscapes. In Warehouses (1995), Logos (1995), and Containers (2002), Breuer captures portraits of the post-industrial, capitalist society – facades of distribution warehouses devoid of human presence, logos of commercial businesses in nondescript places, and compositions of neatly stacked shipping containers that resonate both a sense of displacement and familiarity. Breuer’s work explores these ideas of the new topographies in a continuing globalized world, I aim to take inspiration from his minimalistic images in my urban and industrial photoshoots.
Image Analysis
This image by Frank Breuer reflects the growing industrialisation of natural landscapes in our modern world. Breuer’s composition, photographing the subject from a lower angle, portrays the logo as imposing, as if it looks down on the people below it. Additionally, the natural environment in the background and right side of the image contrasts greatly with the industrial structure that stands amongst it. I believe Breuer has captured the structure in this way to reflect the way ‘man’ rules over the natural world, interrupting and destroying it bit by bit while keeping a watchful eye over all they create. Furthermore, in the background of the photo the sky holds little to no texture, very different from the rough texture created by the trees below. It is possible that Breuer has over exposed his image slightly to form such a bright white sky. This lack of texture behind the logo allows it to stand out greater than anything else in the image, creating the main focal point- as it has no distracting background pattern or landscape. This conveys the idea that society’s main focus is money and power, people are ignoring the natural world around them as commercial business’ are putting their influence in every place possible. The negative space created by Breuer’s over exposed sky also reflects the negative impact that urbanisation is having over the entirety of nature.
Locations Mind-map
