About Abstraction and Color

Again and again Jessica Backhaus sets out in search of new means of expression, resulting in a fascinating interplay between the representation of reality and enigmatic abstraction. The artist focuses on objects and situations of everyday life and, through her camera, repeatedly views the world from unusual perspectives.

Mise-en-scene, abstraction and intuition are also the main aspects in Jessica Backhaus’ latest works, Cut Outs. What role does colour play? How do you find your own artistic path? The pictures in Cut Outs are created by using the simplest means and reduce photography to its basic elements: light and shadow, shape and colour. Cut-out transparent paper reacts to the heat of intense sunlight, deforms, rises, and casts shadows. Jessica will talk about her evolution into abstraction and the importance of colour in her work.

Jessica Backhaus was born in Cuxhaven, Germany in 1970 and grew up in an artistic family. At the age of sixteen, she moved to Paris, where she later studied from 1989-1992 Photography and Visual Communications. Here she met Gisèle Freund in 1992, who became her mentor. In 1995 her passion for photography drew her to New York, where she assisted photographers, pursued her own projects and lived until 2009.

Jessica Backhaus is regarded as one of the most distinguished voices in contemporary photography in Germany today. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, MARTa Herford, Herford and the Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt. To date, she has ten publications to her name and is represented by various galleries in Europe and the USA.