You might get a bit disturbed staring at his photographs, while trying to figure out who was behind the helmet, who tried to achieve which “heroic” mission squeezed into those spacesuits.
German photographer Matthias Schaller is known for sequences of indirect portraits which have rewarded him with several international awards. Here, Matthias gives us a deadpan gag with a bonus punchline. He’s sourced an impressively wide range of spacesuits and photographed them from various angles. This proposes that we take seriously the profile and frontal views of occupants (should there be any) who remain uniformly invisible, thus frustrating any use as identification or any urge to compare cosmo- with astro-nauts.
Neat: but, neater still, the reflections of each set also describe a lunar cycle, conflating the explorative goals of the 60’s with the minimalist sequencing of much of its art…
Matthias will be exhibiting his Disportraits @ Ben Brown Fine Arts (London) until March 5th, then these cosmo & astronauts will be traveling to the Rio de Janeiro Museum of Contemporary Art from mid-May till the end of July; so if you happen to be around … you know…
