Moscow Museum of Modern Art for the first time in Russia presents a solo exhibition of German photographer Ralph Caspers

• RALPH Caspers
  pool. Tokyo. 2007
  Photography. Lambda print, plasticization. 143 x 420
  Source: Press Release MMSI

Today November 9, at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Tverskaya Boulevard, 9) opens the exhibition "Ralph Caspers. Picture "- the first solo exhibition in Russia, the famous German master.

Ralph Caspers (Ralf Kaspers) was born in 1957 in Düsseldorf; there from 1977 to 1982, studied photography and graphics at the Academy visual arts. Caspers organically joined in the famous Dusseldorf school of conceptual photography. Moscow has already held exhibitions of its most prominent members - Bernd and Hilla Becher (2010) , and Andreas Gursky (2008). This series is logically continues a retrospective of Ralph Caspers, including more than 25 large-format photographs, including work this year.

range of interests Ralph Caspers extremely extensive. On the one hand, he was close to the monumental themes - nature, architecture and urban scenes, shot in various locations around the globe, from Tokyo to New York, from Bangkok to the Serengeti desert. Among the iconic shots Caspers - such grandiose "ceremonial" structures, like Stonehenge, the New York Stock Exchange and Moscow's Luzhniki stadium. On the other hand, the photographer interested in something quite the opposite - the ornamental microcosm consisting of infinite combinations of similar small items. The object of intense contemplation through the lens can be anything you like - fly, black caviar, trim nails, empty shells, gold bars, bullets for Kalashnikov assault rifle, notes in denominations of € 500 ...

• RALPH Caspers
  Gold. 2008
  Photography. Lambda print, plasticization. 178 x 305
  Source: Press Release MMSI

In What is the secret unity of this diverse world? The constant change of themes and subjects gives the author an opportunity to explore the most important artistic categories - shape, texture and rhythm. However, the concentration on the visual quality will not hinder Caspers refer to the "eternal" questions of good and evil, religious beliefs, historical guilt or the temptations of wealth. The latter theme appears in the artist in several interpretations: it is a panorama of trading floors of stock exchanges of New York, Tokyo and Frankfurt (2007), and composition with black caviar and gold bullion (2008), and "rock" called "One Million Euros "(2007), and much more. Caspers takes the problem of historical morality: one of his most famous works - "Paper F321» (2007) - is a snapshot report of the German concentration camps, prepared by the beginning of the Nuremberg trials. But it is in the works of the artist's moral well-separated from the forms: for example, "Document F321» hovers in the space of the image falls outside of historical context and turns into an almost abstract phenomenon. By the same token is created and the Luzhniki Stadium "(2008). Here is depicted a real place, but the digital processing has led to what most impressed by the purity of geometry - a combination of a square, circle and oval.

• RALPH Caspers
  Luzhniki. Moscow. 2008
  Photography. Lambda print, plasticization. 200 x 267. Circulation 5 specimens.
  Source: Press Release MMSI

In this photo stadium empty, but in other works of Ralph Caspers people in place. They rarely show a portrait, but more often there are crowds of the stones of Stonehenge or the Kremlin wall. The viewer can easily feel like one of the characters, mentally overcome the image border and enter into its space. This experience will be able to survive the visitors of this exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, which opens up new dimensions of creativity Ralph Caspers, allowing deeper insight into his wonderful world of objects.

exhibition runs until 12 December 2010.

Source : Press Release MMSI