Floris Neusüss: Selected works

'Untitled, (Körperfotogramm), Kassel, 1967'

'Untitled, (Körperfotogramm), Kassel, 1967', gelatin-silver print photogram by Floris Neusüss, Berlin, Germany, 1967. Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Graphische Sammlung, Germany.

Here, the varying proximity of parts of the body to the paper has created sharper or softer outlines. Where the model's hands were in contact with the paper, the outline is clear. Where parts of the body, such as the head, were further away, it is blurred.
'Untitled, (Körperfotogramm)

'Untitled, (Körperfotogramm), gelatin-silver print photogram by Floris Neusüss, Berlin, Germany, 1962. Collection Chistian Diener, Berlin

The bodies in Neusüss's 'whole-body photograms' appear to leap or float, as though caught in space, implying dreams of flight or nightmares of falling. Here, an adult figure adopts a foetal position silhouetted against vague indications of an interior. Neusüss's shadowy figures often suggest an underlying symbolic narrative of sensuality, fertility, dreams or the subconscious.
'Bin Gleich Zurück, (Be Right Back), (Fotogramminstallation), 1984/87'

'Bin Gleich Zurück, (Be Right Back), (Fotogramminstallation), 1984/87', Gelatin-silver print and wooden chair, Floris Neusüss, 1984 and 1987. Collection of the artist

Neusüss's art often acknowledges that the making of each unique photogram is a kind of performance. In this installation piece, a chair stands on a sheet of photographic paper that retains the shadow of a person now absent from the seat. The playful title becomes increasingly poignant as each year passes.
'Hebe 1796 (Skulptur von Antonio Canova, 1757-1822) Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin'

'Hebe 1796 (Skulptur von Antonio Canova, 1757-1822) Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin', gelatin-silver print photogram by Floris Neusüss (made in collaboration with Renate Hayene), Berlin, Germany, 2004. Collection of the artist

Since 2000 Neusüss has been making photograms of sculpture in various museum collections. In this work, overlapping double exposures - both positive and negative - create multiple views of Canova's sculpture of Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth. These sculpture photograms speak of artists' enduring fascination with animate bodily forms and how they can be transformed into idealised inanimate imaginings.
'Gewitterbild, Kassel, 1984'

'Gewitterbild, Kassel, 1984', gelatin-silver print photogram by Floris Neusüss, Kassel, Germany, 1984. Collection of the artist.

Sometimes, the abstract qualities of Neusüss's work are the result of natural forces. The image shown here was created by placing photographic paper in a garden at night during a thunderstorm, and letting lightning expose the paper.
'Homage to Talbot: The Latticed Window, Lacock Abbey, 2010'

'Homage to Talbot: The Latticed Window, Lacock Abbey, 2010', dye destruction print photograms by Floris Neusüss (in collaboration with Renate Heyne), 2010. Collection of the artist.

This window at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, was the subject of the very first photographic negative, made by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835. After covering the interior of the window with photographic paper at night, Neusüss then exposed the paper by shining a light from outside. The resulting photogram recreates the subject of Talbot's original small negative, but life size. This version of the window photograph was commissioned for the 'Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography' exhibition at the V&A (2010).
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