Marco Breuer

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, February 19 - August 1, 2010

Abstract photographs by the German artist Marco Breuer (b. 1966) are featured in this "New Pictures" exhibition, the second in a semiannual series dedicated to innovative new work by artists from around the world. Presented each fall and spring, New Pictures highlights the vital experimentations in photography and new media undertaken by artists who grapple with making images that address today's culture.

Breuer's works invite close inspection of their complex and delicate surfaces, colors, and forms. At the same time, they challenge our assumptions by raising the question "What is a photograph?" Breuer omits the two elements most commonly associated with photographs: the camera and a representational picture of the world. By sanding, scraping, burning, embossing, and cutting the light-sensitive surface of the photographic paper, he emphasizes the medium's fundamental elements: light-sensitive photographic paper, and light. In the end, Breuer's images are not just pictures, they are physical marks of the material world.

To capture the complexity of Breuer's approach to photography, a second edition of "New Pictures 2: Marco Breuer" will be on view starting March 12. At that time, the artist will alter the space to evoke a darkroom and will create a site-specific installation addressing the relationship between photography and drawing.

Generous support for the "New Pictures" series is provided by H.B. Fuller.