Josef Fischnaller
Josef Fischnaller, born in 1964 in Upper Austria, trained as a photographer in Vienna and moved to Berlin in 2000, where he founded his own studio in 2007.
Exhibition " Past Present Present Past" in February 2016
When actress Andrea Sawatzki becomes Britain's Queen Elizabeth I, it's likely the work of celebrated photo artist Josef Fischnaller. He reinterprets well-known masterpieces of art history in original ways: For example, his Saint Jerome leans on a stack of Vogue magazines instead of books, staring thoughtfully at his smartphone.
Fischnaller's "Past Present Present Past" includes numerous still lifes, including numerous lush floral bouquets. The new photographs reveal richly detailed imagery that viewers will never tire of. The Berlin-based Austrian artist's works uniquely combine the classical art form of painting with the medium of photography. "I am delighted to welcome such a talented artist and am proud to be able to show a total of 22 of his works until the end of March," says gallery owner Kirsten Roschlaub. "Fischnaller is in high demand on the international art market and will surely cause a sensation in Hamburg as well."
Exhibition " Apocalypse" in December 2021
When Austrian photographer Josef Fischnaller curated his latest exhibition in March 2020, he had no idea that his chosen title, "Apocalypse," had an almost clairvoyant quality. The world was brought to a standstill by the spreading pandemic—Fischnaller's works were only available to the public online. Almost two years later, the Hamburg-based Roschlaub Gallery is now displaying Fischnaller's painterly motifs on its walls.
Fischnaller reinterprets masterpieces of art history with his photographs. In "Conception," for example, Maria receives the message of her conception via iPad, analogous to Lorenzo Costa's painting. Hans Holbein's work served as the inspiration for "Lady with a Squirrel." "Rubens, Vermeer, Caravaggio—they all reinvented painting in the Renaissance. I'm now trying to find something new in photography," says Josef Fischnaller. "For me, the apocalypse doesn't mean something negative, but rather the opportunity for something new."
Exhibition “Metamorphosis” in March 2023
In Josef Fischnaller's new series, the photographs undergo a complete transformation and experience a unique, fantastic METAMORPHOSIS.
And what a variety! Different colors, brighter, more intense. These bouquets seem almost abstract, the portraits sometimes like mythical creatures.
In his new works, Josef Fischnaller has also approached transience technically. More than ever, he moves away from his métier, classical photography, and incorporates the processes of flow, runoff, and yellowing as stylistic devices. Using a technique that he keeps somewhat secret, he creates photo prints with colors that are not actually suitable for this purpose. Thus, these images are also merely snapshots, and he reproduces an extremely fleeting state, a relic, in small editions.
Fascinated by the intoxication of colors and forms, we immerse ourselves in these sometimes gigantic, illusory worlds of images, puristically presented in powerful simplicity on aluminum Dibond under a captivatingly shiny acrylic layer.
METAMORPHOSIS! Photographer Josef Fischnaller has never come this close to painting.
Collective Exhibition in December 2024
Joseph Fischnaller is particularly known for his elaborate re-enactments of famous Renaissance and Baroque paintings. The elaborate costumes, made from materials removed from their original context, create a subtext that questions visual memory with subtle irony.
Fischnaller dares to translate the classical iconography of portraits and still lifes into the present day. The idea and desire for attention to detail, the handling of light and shadow, and the exploration of spatiality and form, as he knew it from Caravaggio and Velàzquez, are thus transformed into the 21st century. One could also say that Josef Fischnaller photographs the way the old masters painted. The apparent irritation thus sharpens the viewer's perception and makes things visible.