Norbert Schäfer

Norbert Schäfer has been exhibiting his photographs since 1977. The increasing technologization of the genre of photography opened up new possibilities for the artist, drawing him away from classical, analog photography as simple depiction.

Norbert Schäfer’s photographs appear at first glance playful and in parts untidy. Bright flashes of light and blurred color spaces dominate the composition of the image and allow the observer’s eyes to wander. Upon closer examination, however, spatiality and movements become visible in the seemingly abstract image space. Schäfer’s photographs are not merely analog reproductions of what is seen: instead, the artist makes use of digital image editing to reinforce impressions that the interaction between the eyes and the brain often blocks out—small light reflections and optically blurred objects are captured on camera, the impression digitally strengthened and presented to the observer as an artistic attempt to make vision visible.

Schäfer describes himself as a postmodern artist interested in life’s different manifestations. It is for this reason that Norbert Schäfer doesn’t work with simple depiction as in classical photography, instead demanding a more radical view and representation of vision.

“Photography is an expression of seeing, designing it is an expression of feeling.” – Norbert Schäfer