So Far
Sonja Braas
Hatje Cantz
Hardback
122 pages
270 × 300 mm
2013
ISBN 9783775736466
The visual aesthetic of Sonja Braas (b.1968 in Siegen) is one of dazzling paradox. Viewers see clearly recognisable natural phenomena and forces, such as icy alpine regions, thundering avalanches, tempestuous surf, or urban centers and cities flooded or in flames. Yet nature’s essence seems alienated. The images look artificial, for they are only partially based on actual nature and landscape photographs. Many of the images are of models built by the artist, and this lends them a characteristically uncanny atmosphere. While Romantic painting assigns the viewer a fixed viewpoint, generally represented by a figure in the picture, from which he or she can perceive the sublimity behind the terror of nature from a safe distance, Braas rejects any foothold whatsoever. Only the disembodied camera seems immersed in the events taking place in the photographs.
About the Artist
Sonja Braas is a German artist and photographer known for her fascinating detailed photographs of nature and singular structures. Her work revolves around the concepts of artificial and strange. Born in 1968 in Siegen, Germany Braas has a degree in photography, visual communication and film from the Fachhochschule Dortmund, Germany and studied photography at the School of Visual Arts, New York.
sonjabraas.com
(source: https://www.sonjabraas.com/biography)
About the Publisher
Hatje Cantz publisher are committed to this motto more than ever – with our accustomed high quality we remain faithful to the standards set by Gerd Hatje: premium books that are produced in close collaboration with artists and curators. Our profile has always been shaped by tradition and avant-garde from all over the world. We present our program in a bilingual preview catalogue, in which masters of the twentieth century such as Paul Klee, Paul Gauguin, and Eva Hesse meet contemporary artists such as Michael Borremans, Gerhard Richter, and Filip Dujardin.
hatjecantz.com
(source: https://www.hatjecantz.com/pages/about-us)
