07.04.06 - 28.05.06

Frank Mädler | WEGE  

Untitled (from the series "WEGE"), 2003, c-print, 120 x 180 cm, edition of 4, courtesy Corkin Gallery, Toronto (CAN)

"One could say that with this work Maedler succeeds in creating a highly interesting paradox - he shows us that the composition of an image can reflect a specific moment in time and simultaneously be a symbolic representation of reality. Without forcing it, this print conveys the notion that a good photograph is always open to interpretation. The degree of ambivalence in the image is such that, even when you consider it from a strictly representational point of view, you can still extract multiple meanings from it.

The car that looks small and lost at the intersection of the roads could have been there for hours or just moments. Given that there are three roads to choose from, one can pick up a sense of disorientation and being lost. It would be also plausible that the driver, if there is one, knows exactly where he has to go. It is possible that the desired destination is just outside the frame, deliberately not included in the image in order to create a sense of exclusion.

The one thing that is clear is that the car, as the center of the composition, is the point at which the image converges and simultaneously that from which it diverges. The crossing diagonals of the whitish roadways hold the frame in a fragile balance between contraction and expansion. In other words, the crossing roads convey both of these notions - the sense of the image expanding outside of its own boundaries and collapsing into its centre. The center of the composition is marked by an outsized X sign formed by the crossing roads and is subsequently reinforced by the positioning of the car exactly in the middle of this X. (...)"

Stephan Berg

aus: Fractions of Time in the Fabric of Timelessness (printed in the catalogue "Frank Maedler. WEGE, Corkin Gallery Toronto (CAN) / Edition J. J. Heckenhauer, Toronto 2005. The catalogue with the complete text by Stephan Berg and a text by Tanja Dueckers can be purchased through the gallery).

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