EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE ALRIGHT MOTHER Photograph

.....Blurring the borders between art, design and fashion photography, Josefsohns works capture the spirit of a generation that playfully mixes media and styles and has found a very individual language for its environment and way of life. But the unique nature of his work lies in the cracks in the surface. Although his pictures are aesthetically pleasing and well-composed, their glossy surfaces conceal an altogether darker, deeper and unspoken level. A good example is his photograph of a middle-class residence in the German countryside. The architecture, the little garden and the curtains in the window are all innocuous enough. But this is the scene of the Cannibal of Rothenburg case, a crime that shocked the world. It is precisely this conflict between an aesthetically pleasing surface and the history or events that are associated with it that gives the pictures their disconcerting and decidedly political edge.

Whether the subject is right-wing extremism in Germany or the Middle East conflict, Josefsohn invariably finds unusual motifs and unsettling scenes. His series Jewing Gun portrays young Israeli soldiers. The photographs are characterised by the contrasts between military uniforms and small accessories like sunglasses, which make the whole series resemble a fashion spread for a magazine. In fact, what the accessories actually do is show the hue of personality the soldiers have tried to bring to their regulation clothing. Josefsohn does not capture his subjects like an impartial bystander, but as a highly conscious observer who eschews the repetitive stereotypes we so often see in the media.

His photographs, short films, advertising campaigns, and objects are the result of mostly spontaneous, intuitive ideas. Josefsohn does not plan his pictures long in advance, they are not subject to a predetermined concept. They come about on the spur of the moment and are the outcome of the concrete situation. He concentrates a great deal of information and numerous visual influences in a central statement.

For the first time, the exhibition presents his many-faceted work in such breadth. The works from the past 15 years are for the most part shown in their original media: apart from magazine covers, the exhibition presents fashion series, portraits and press photos, skateboards, commercials, and advertising campaigns Hardly any works have been enlarged, mounted, or framed for the presentation.