Vuk Karadžić
»live«

February 12  - March 12, 2011
Opening Hours: Wed - Sat 3 - 6 p.m. and by appointment

Nowadays television and the internet allow for the live attendance of almost every important – and unimportant – event. But which version of reality do these mediated images convey, and what remains hidden from sight? Vuk Karadžić has created vexing images by taking photographic snapshots of live television broadcasts.

Berlin photo artist Vuk Karadžić arrests the flow of images and extracts single moments for closer examination. From his creative beginnings the artist has been in search of the truth behind the image – be it a portrait, a street- or landscape photo, or indeed the mediated reality of television. An invariable characteristic of his work is the artist’s cool unsparing gaze, which knows the power of images to deceive.

For the exhibition »live« at Petra Rietz Salon Galerie, Karadžić has brought together some of his most recent works and is presenting them to the public for the first time. These are stills from live broadcasts, apparently taken at random. Even though the hideous grimace of the world of electronic media is apparent, ostensible media criticism is not really the object here. Rather, the series addresses thematically the relationship between individual and crowd, as well as what might come to light when the constant stream of images is momentarily interrupted.

Working with this technique, the artist stays true to his course. The portraits and landscapes that had for a long time dominated his oeuvre already aimed to penetrate the facade. Vuk Karadžić’s portraits are mercilessly candid – and eerily perceptive. They are sublime psychological studies of the artist's subject.

Vuk D. Karadžić, *1948 Berlin, lives in Frankfurt und Berlin. He works as freelance photo artist for publishers and magazines. His works have been exhibited in shows in Germany and abroad. In 2005, the National Museum in Wroclaw featured a retrospective of Karadžić’s landscapes and portraits.

www.vukkaradzic.de