ANDREAS RENTSCH
Andreas Rentsch is a New York based artist and educator whose career has been spent exploring the outer dimensions of experimental photography. Rentsch uses self-portraiture, performance, time-based experimentation, chance and unconventional techniques to explore issues of justice, incarceration, humanism.
Swiss born, Rentsch grew up within the walls of a prison compound. His father being a warden and a earnest believer in rehabilitation, Rentsch was instilled with the belief all people should be treated with respect and are deserving of dignity. Immersion in this humanist undertaking, allowed for Rentsch’s ongoing exposure to the inmates, through playing soccer with the prison teams, sharing family meals with inmate guests and casual interactions on a daily basis. Given these unusual circumstances, Rentsch developed a keen empathy for the human condition.
Photography was an early interest as well and experimentation has been a mainstay in his practice. Pinhole photography, innovative applications for x-ray film, films created from still photos, experiments in abstraction, and drawing with light have all played roles in various projects
Andreas writes:
“The fascination and magic in the ability of capturing light and making it visible within the photographic process has been an obsession of mine since I took my first image at the age of 12. The etymology of photography (drawing with light, light recording, documenting and writing with light) has always been an inspiration for experimentation. In that regard, I consider my more recent work to be the purest form of photography, with light as my guiding force and constant companion. My photographic work of late possesses a close aesthetic relationship to performance art, drawing and painting. Process has become more and more important in my art practice. My aim has consistently remained within the parameters of the photographic medium in order to discover new ways to articulate my ideas visually. Experimentation and chance have become important tools in my research. A large part of my methodology has been to abandon a considerable amount of control and allow the material to take over in some unexpected and unpredictable ways. In the case of my Entangled with Justice series, I circumvent the manufacturer’s specification of separating the negative from the positive of the Polaroid Type 55 film and instead of fixing and washing it immediately, I allow it to develop and decay over a period of weeks or months before I tone it for permanence. By allowing the chemical phenomena to randomly and arbitrarily impact the once available information in the image, the resulting shapes and forms in essence become metaphors for our own unpredictable existence… My unconventional approach to photography raises the question of medium specificity. As photography has been closely identified to the apparatus and to its reproducibility, the questions and limitations as defined in the past have given way to new explorations of alternative fields of study. The incorporation of other mediums has been a vital aspect of my art making, and this expansion opens up new avenues of expression.”
featured in:
GALLERY INVENTORY
Entangled with Justice
The series Entangled with Justice and X-Ray were triggered upon seeing the horrifying images of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hand of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib and the public stoning in Afghanistan of a loving couple by their own community, including relatives. These works continue an ongoing exploration of the connection of fate, geography and politics in the direction of justice.
Untitled (5), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2007. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (6), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2009. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (7), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 4 x 5 inches, Matted at 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled (1), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (8), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (9), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (10), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (13), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 4 x 5 inches, Matted at 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled (14), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2009. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (15), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 4 x 5 inches, Matted at 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled (16), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2007. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (19), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (20), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2005. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (22), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 4 x 5 inches, Matted at 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled (23), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2005. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (24), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2007. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (25), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2007. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (28), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (30), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2008. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 4 x 5 inches, Matted at 16 x 20 inches.
Untitled (33), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.
Untitled (34), from the series, "Entangled with Justice," 2006. Unique, Sepia Toned, Polaroid Type 55 Negative; 5 x 4 inches, Matted at 20 x 16 inches.