The German artist and photographer explores the photographic potential of abstraction, continuing her colorful study of form and light in her new book Plein Soleil.

Jessica Backhaus invites us to a symphony of colors, lights, and forms. She is one of those rare photographers capable of exploring the multifaceted nature of documentary photography and poetic, intuitive color composition. Originally from Cuxhaven, Germany, this artist spent time in Paris, under the mentorship of Gisèle Freund, and in New York, under David LaChapelle, before settling in Berlin. Her new series, based on her book Plein Soleil (Full Sun), is a beautiful, colorful study of form and light that transcends the boundaries of her two previous projects. With A Trilogy (2017), she embarked on a transformative exploration, trading the constraints of traditional photography for the depths of abstraction. With Cut Outs (2021), she confronted colored, transparent paper with the intense heat of sunlight, which ultimately distorted and curved, casting unexpected shadows.

CAPTIVATING IMAGES

Plein Soleil is thus composed like "architectural models." This brilliant colorist creates minimalist compilations of reality, filled with "vital energy." As is her custom, she maintains an economy of means, using rectangular and square colored papers, textured surfaces, and the shimmering sunlight.
« The interplay of light and shadow, combined with the meticulous arrangement of forms, invites the viewer to lose themselves in the captivating dance of colors and shapes. " explains Christiane Stahl, who wrote the afterword to the book. She opens herself to the unknown and creates images so light and playful that they cannot be born of reason; they are optimistic, luminous, vibrant and light, with an energy that affirms life. »

MULTIPLE INSPIRATIONS

In her spatial structures with their exhilarating and invigorating geometric forms, Jessica Backhaus says she draws inspiration from music, dance, cinema and, above all, painting. She finds inspiration in the abstract canvases of Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler and Clyfford Still, in the organic forms of Jean Arp and Joan Miró, in Bauhaus artists such as Oskar Schlemmer and Wassily Kandinsky, or even in the ultramarine blue of Yves Klein which, for her, is "the basis of everything".

Christiane Stahl rightly points out that the German photographer does not draw with colors: she sculpts them. There is no attempt at simplification here; on the contrary, the autonomy of the photographed color is explored, forever freed from the constraints of the subject. »
In nearly thirty years of career, Jessica Backhaus has published around ten books and exhibited her works around the world, notably in France at the Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles, at the Goethe-Institut in Nancy and at the Maison de la photographie in Lille.

JESSICABACKHAUS.NET

FULL SUN BY JESSICA BACKHAUS,
WITH THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANE STAHL
KEHRER VERLAG PUBLISHING, 2024