303 Gallery is proud to present the New York debut of photographic work by Florian Maier-Aichen.
Florian Maier-Aichen works with varying degrees of “straight” photography and digital intervention to create work that challenges our visual understanding of the photographic image. For this exhibition, Maier-Aichen has chosen primarily views of the sea and landscapes as subject matter. In the work “Untitled (Insel Vilm)”, an ocean liner is on the way to its destination on very still waters. After closer examination, the scale of the ship appears much too small and the ocean appears much too still, establishing a structure of disbelief.
“Above June Lake” 2005, an aerial view of a mountain, recalls a detail of an abstract painting. The ski trails carved in the earth could be understood as a simple cryptic drawing. These and other works highlight Maier- Aichen's unique preoccupation with the ambiguity of space in the viewer's perception. In addition, Maier- Aichen utilizes photographic methods ranging from the Albumen print process, that dates back to the 19th century, up through contemporary computer based means. In this way, Maier-Aichen begins to dismantle the heritage of German color photographers with his intimate use of digital technology and labored handmade attention.
Florian Maier-Aichen was included in “Set Up: Recent Acquisitions in Photography”, at The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY in March 2005. In 2002 his work was included in “Anti-Form: New Photographic Work from Los Angeles”, curated by James Welling at the Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO. In 2001, Maier-Aichen was included in “Snapshot: New Art from Los Angeles’ at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Florian Maier-Aichen lives and works in Cologne, Germany and Los Angeles, California. His work will be included in the upcoming Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, 2006 and he will have a one-person exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007.