André Adamsbaum
Photographs of walls and panels
Photographs of old walls, graffitis and torn posters, why ?
The genesis
One day or another, one or several images are posted on a wall.
At this stage, they are in line with the will, the intentions of their authors.
One day, one week or one month later, posters are torn by human action, partially covered by new posters, or graffitis, degraded by rain, winds, storms…
The images become independant of their authors and of any initial intention.
They live their own life.
My purpose is to capture and show the surprising qualities of this new life
The disorder
At first, it is an image of disorder.
I look for a composition, an harmony in this disorder.
The truth
Nothing has been changed in my images. Nothing is manipulated. The image reflects the reality of what was on the wall.
The instant
Don’t wait too long to take the picture ! The nice image you see now may disappear or be corrupted after one day or even one hour.
Technique, presentation and format
Recent photos were taken with digital single lens reflex cameras. Earlier photos, taken with film, have been digitized.
The final result is printed on A3+ paper (300 X 450 mm per image).
High quality ink and paper are used to insure the longevity of the image.
“Look at walls splashed with a number of stains, or stones of various mixed colours. If you have to invent some scene, you can see there resemblances to a number of landscapes, adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, great plains, valleys and hills, in various ways. Also you can see various battles, and lively postures of strange figures, expressions on faces, costumes and an infinite number of things, which you can reduce to good integrated form. This happens on such walls and varicoloured stones, (which act) like the sound of bells, in whose peeling you can find every name and word that you can imagine.
Do not despise my opinion, when I remind you that it should not be hard for you to stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or the ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud or like places, in which, if you consider them well, you may find really marvelous ideas. The mind of the painter is stimulated to new discoveries, the composition of battles of animals and men, various compositions of landscapes and monstrous things, such as devils and similar things, which may bring you honor, because by indistinct things the mind is stimulated to new inventions.”
Leonardo da Vinci