Idealistic Surroundings

Idealistic Surroundings

German photographer Andreas Gefeller questions perception and truth, exploiting the possibilities of photography to bring into focus that which is overlooked. The featured series Soma, for example, is a direct reference to a hallucinogenic drug from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932). Now published as book by Hatje Cantz – teamed with quotes from Fernando Pessoa, Ray Bradbury and Elias Canetti – the series encompasses artificial landscapes and an imagined future. Incorporating a sense of idealism through opiate colour schemes, the images are shot in Gran Canaria, revealing brightly lit beaches and bleach white structures contrasted by encroaching black shadows. Standardisation is the central theme, reflecting upon the impending age of digitalisation and syntheticism. Gefeller’s work is in the permanent collections of the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Saatchi Gallery, London, and the National Gallery of Canada, Toronto. www.andreasgefeller.com.