Guido Klumpe

The internationally successful and visually impaired photo artist from Hanover shows the bizarreness and hidden beauty of our cities.
Guido Klumpe's work moves between street and abstract architectural photography. The photographer composes his images in urban spaces and in such a minimalist way that they puzzle the viewer.“

URBANITY
He uses what cityscapes have to offer: Shapes, surfaces, colors, reflections, light and shadow. To achieve this, the photographer is on the move a lot, especially in bright sunshine. These lighting situations are particularly interesting for him, as this is how he creates his bright colors and strong contrasts.
He is particularly attracted to districts that are characterized by functional architecture: Train stations, shopping centers, gas stations and the like. Places where most people either only spend a short time to do something or just pass through. Guido Klumpe elicits a special aesthetic, beauty and poetry from them.
In the city, he is surrounded by situations and scenarios that he turns into photographic art. He discovers them in the banal and extracts them from the chaos of the urban environment. "Art is everywhere," he says. Once he has discovered a place with potential, the process of w...

THE STORY OF GUIDO KLUMPE:
Guido Klumpe was 16 years old when he developed his passion for photography. His first interest was in concert photography. Only a short time later, he travelled through South East Asia and discovered the magic of street photography. Back in Germany, it was absolutely clear: Guido Klumpe wanted to become a photographic artist. But he had underestimated the German bureaucracy in his plans. At the careers advice centre, he was told that there was no way he could study photography.

Guido Klumpe has been blind on his left side since birth. He has 25 per cent vision on his right side. His perception is two-dimensional and only recognises a few details. "For me, the world is like an internet video with a low data rate. When I see a face, I recognise some details. Faces in a crowd are just planes". And that was precisely the exclusion criterion for studying photography. He was told that, as a visually impaired person, he was not suitable for the course. He could become a masseur or a telephonist.

Inevitably, Klumpe initially took a different career path as a social worker in the field of psychosocial counselling, until one day he saw a documentary about well-known New York street photographers, which reminde...

Single or double Exhibitions (Selected):

2024
"(People in) Urban Landscapes“, "Home of X Gallery“, Nuremberg
"Forwards to Backwards - Photographic research trip through Hanover" as part of the "Knäuel Kulturdreieck" of the city of Hanover
„N.N.“ Intreal Gallery, Hamburg, Germany (Sept. 2024)
​
2023
"Ins Blaue III-Architecture and contempary art" Hanover
Guest artist at the "Jesteburger Bürger*innen-Akademie für Kunst in öffentlichen Räumen", Jesteburg
"Das Gemeinsame im Verschiedenen", Gallery "vom Zufall und vom Glück", Hanover.

"Urban Conundrums", „Gallery BugeSchäfer", Hanover
"Urban fragments", "Studio Stadt", Hanover
"Minimal City", "Style Hannover" e.V.
"The enigmatic in the everyday", "Kunstraum Benther Berg", Benthe, Germany

2022
"People in urban landscapes", art space "J3FM"

Group Exhibitions (Selected):

2024
"Xposure Festival", Sharjah, UAE
„Image Nation“, New York, USA
"25th NordArt", Büdelsdorf, Germany
​
2023
"Lost in", art space J3FM, Hanover
"Neu im BBK", group exhibition, Eisfabrik Hanover
"49th Detmold Art Days", group exhibition, Detmold
"free. go. open. away“ BBK, Hanover
"Street sans frontieres 2023", Galerie Joseph le Palais, Paris
​
2022
"Street sans frontieres 2022", Galerie Joseph le Palais, Par...