Philipp Hofmann

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WERKE

ARTIST Info

Philipp Hofmann

Bon Voyage

von Stephanie Hentschel

Painting or photography? This is the question one inevitably asks oneself when looking at Philipp Hofmann’s works and their fine, painterly structure, which clearly comes close to a brushstroke.
Clearly, two artistic worlds meet here, that of oil painting and that of photography, the actual medium of Philipp Hofmann’s art.
The manifold facets of painting seem to be almost exhausted in the history of art, just as the modern technique of photography limits the individual artistic craft of the photographer more and more. Philipp Hofmann has taken up a new approach to photography in his works out of this development, a combination of both genres, in which, however, painting does not imitate the skill of photography, but photography borrows the haptic and compositional expression of painting – photorealism in its inversion.
The artist, who has lived in New York for many years, does not aim to reproduce things as faithfully as possible. With the help of the possibilities of digital photography, a painterly effect is to be created, which, just like photorealistic painting, initially leads the viewer’s eye astray and confronts him with the question of which artistic working method he is being confronted with here.
The special technique also allows the artist to use the advantages of photography in terms of the very concrete snapshot and perspective and at the same time, with the help of the painterly effect, to transfer the moods of the scenery into the picture and capture them.

Many trips to different continents form the fund of inspiration for the artist and the basis for the resulting image subjects. From landscapes, to special architectures, to themes of social life – Philipp Hofmann is always on the lookout for the appropriate motif that represents the current zeitgeist and should be captured for posterity.
Trained to look at art from an early age, his works point to a feeling for the aesthetics of form and color, as well as for a particular perspective and the specific lighting situation in each case. A string of colorful parasols on the beach is thus stripped of its functional meaning and abstracted into a kind of pattern of form and color. The same happens with perspective-distorted close-ups of different buildings, whose façade structure, mostly shot in extreme top view, comes to the fore from this optically foreshortened angle, making the actual function of the building seem insignificant. Only the aesthetics of the serial arrangement, form or color composition form the image statement in these works.
As an attentive observer, Philipp Hofmann captures spontaneous impressions as snapshots. Not only the motif is decisive, but equally the feeling and emotion that resonates in this moment of the situation and gives the scenery the appropriate tension. His works therefore appear as a mirror of current cultural life and at the same time offer the viewer a more intense, very individual perspective on what is happening.

BIOGRAPHY

1976
born in Munich

1995
Abitur

1995 – 2001
Berlin University of Technology,
Industrial Engineering

2003

Concept Digitaloil

Lives and works as an internationally active artist and photographer

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010s

2015
Bon Voyage – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Karlsruhe – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art New York – De Buck Gallery, New York City

2014
Art Karlsruhe – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Fair Cologne – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Zurich – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.

2013
Art Karlsruhe – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Zurich – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Palm Beach – De Buck Gallery, New York City
Art Fair Cologne – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.

2012
Solo Show – De Buck Gallery, New York City
Art Southampton – De Buck Gallery, New York City
Art Fair Cologne – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Karlsruhe – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Zurich – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Miami – De Buck Gallery, New York City

2011
Solo Show – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Perspectives, DWS Investments – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Philipp Hofmann & Others, Durst Corporation – De Buck Gallery, New York City
Art Karlsruhe – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Art Fair Cologne – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Scope, New York – Gallery von Braunbehrens, Munich
Art Miami,USA – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.

2010
Summer show at the Vömel Gallery, Düsseldorf – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Philipp Hofmann & Jürgen Durner, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Zurich – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Scope New York – Gallery von Braunbehrens, Munich
Art Fair Cologne – Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt/M.
Red Dot Miami – De Buck Gallery, New York City

2000s

2009
Palmbeach3, Palm Beach – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Chicago – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.

2008
THE BEACH, Palm Beach – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Miami – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.

2007
Sparkling Summer – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.
Art Karlsruhe – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.

2006
New Talents – Gallery Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt/M.