Street Photography nominee

Signal & Noise

An evaluation of our visual understanding of the world

The picture is first of all a visual event, and the realm between perception and recognition leaves plenty of room for our own projections. In this series Oliver Krebs is exploring these projections. His pictorial approach is concerned with the search for hidden aspects beyond appearances, for verities behind the likeness. In this respect, Oliver Krebs regards his creative practice as artistic research.

The specific characteristics of the photographic image are the basis for his works. The quintessence of the images lies in the intrinsic visual value of these photographic phenomena. The pictures are conceived in terms of visual impact. This interplay is what makes this type of photography so unique. In this way, Oliver Krebs unfurls perceptual spaces that break with the usual narrative strategy of photography. The images instead create an associative space in which they stand only for themselves. Their self-representation divulges secrets that go beyond them and are revealed in the photograph. This makes them decidedly contemporary photographs.

Oliver Krebs studied painting with Per Kirkeby at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main and graduated as a master student in Georg Herold’s sculpture class. His path to photography was therefore not necessarily predetermined. But his career reveals an artist’s way of thinking. Oliver Krebs seeks the imaging medium for his artistic investigations in art: In photography, he investigates the simple yet almost unanswerable question of what makes a picture a picture and what role the individual im-age elements play.Since 1994 he is also working as a producer in advertising, cinema and TV productions. From 2003 to 2005 he taught at the FH Darmstadt in the media department. Oliver Krebs now lives and works in Berlin. His work has been shown in an number of exhibitions.