Jan Prengel
Realities

Exhibition:
March 22 to May 4, 2024

Opening:
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 18.30h
Introduction by Gwendolyn Fässler, art historian

Finissage:
Saturday, May 4, 2024, 13-17h

Opening hours:
Wednesday to Friday 17-19h
Saturday 13-17h
or by appointment

Closed on Good Friday, 29 March 24!


Encounters Of Time, 2023
The series «Encounters Of Time» is intended to inspire the viewer to break open the concept of a linear time and to consider new ideas and views of it. Each composition contains two fused photographs taken in different places and at different times. Two images were previously selected and combined that share certain characteristics, such as motif, form, or color. The conventional physical boundaries of time and space are symbolically dissolved. Different points in time now interact with each other and form new dreamlike visual worlds together. I work with my past as if through a kind of time travel. In the works, the two points in time of the photographs encounter each other as well as the time of their fusion. When the photographs were taken, their meaning was uncertain. Later, they were reinterpreted and integrated into a new work.

Inherited Gaze, 2023
In «Inherited Gaze», I deal with the inheritance of ways of thinking, unsolved traumas and characteristics. These can be passed on over many generations and influence the characters of the following generations, and their view on the world over a long period of time. For «Inherited Gaze», I photographed the reappearing motif of the dried plant through my parents' old glasses. The view through these glasses symbolizes the inherited parental characteristics that make a person look on the world as if through a filter, that cannot be removed. It remains unclear whether the influenced view is negatively blurred, or can be interpreted as the creator of an interesting and unique perspective. As in the «In Search of the Present» or «Metamorphosis» series of works, blurred pictorial elements are added to the plant motifs to create a further layer that visualizes a personal view on the world. A distinct gaze at clearly defined matter and its form is prevented. The aim is to encourage the viewer to take a deeper perspective on the nature of the world, detached from the conventional physical laws.

Fluid Matter, 2023
With their senses, humans perceive the world as an ordered construct with clearly separated objects. Matter appears as a system of constantly static atoms in which these elements are located in a single specific place at any time. Quantum physics contradicts this view on the world and opens the way for new perspectives on reality and the nature of the world. In «Fluid Matter», I explore these new perspectives on reality. Light and forms are distorted and now appear to be in vibration. Familiar objects lose their fixed appearance and flow into each other without boundaries. All matter seems to be in motion, and the conventional view on the objects is disrupted. Instead, abstract compositions of floating colors and newly created forms appear.

Artist Bio/Statement
Time . Space . Existence
With his minimalist photographs, Jan Prengel looks behind the common ideas of these concepts and wants to share his approaches and views on the world. Where language and explanations usually have their limits, the works are intended to inspire us to break open our material view on the world and to create new perspectives on reality. The motifs vary and range from plants to urban spaces and surreal landscapes. A clean visual language and a harmonious visual composition can be found in all works. The minimalism is used for both visual aesthetics and a calming mental effect. A basis is created for the viewer to focus on their own inner visions.
Born in Ulm (D) in 1992, Prengel studied photography at the Lazi Academy in Esslingen. His work has been exhibited in the US and in Germany, where he lives and works.