Jörg Sasse

March 13 - April 17, 1999
540 West 26th Street

Press Release

Lehmann Maupin is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Jörg Sasse. This will be Sasse's second exhibition at Lehmann Maupin. Since that first exhibition, Sasse has had one person exhibitions at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and at Portikus in Frankfurt. Sasse was also included in the "Sightings: New Photographic Art" exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.

Jörg Sasse studied at the Kunstakademie with Bernd and Hilla Becher in Düsseldorf where he now lives and works. Sasse's process begins with his collection of found photographs and snapshots. From this archive, Sasse creates new images using computer manipulation technology to transform the original photographs. In the Portikus catalogue essay by Angelika Nollert, translated here from the German by Diana Resse, Nollert explains the painterly process of constructing each work with the computer.

After he has scanned these shots into the computer he alters the composition, the coloration and the surface appearance of the image on the computer. For this he seeks out a section of the image, mirrors it, changes and/or corrects the perspective, cleans it of any secondary features and replaces individual elements. The newly created image is projected onto a negative and the negative is then enlarged on photographic paper.

Although Sasse's images involve different representations, they possess uniting features. All of the works are characterized by their reduction and the concentration on a few image motifs, by their being out of focus as well as by the well-balanced composition of the image. Despite the bluriness which produces a fleeting, transitory effect, the individual subjects appear to be anchored, stable and calm within the space of the image. Only a few images are animated by people, the equally out-of-focus portrayal of whom, however, retains a transindividual character. With the dissolving of the images into color values, Sasse achieves a level of abstraction which increases the closer one approaches the image.

Exhibition Works

7747, 1998 1998 Lambda print on acrylic glass 36.85 x 59.21 inches, 93.6 x 150.4 cm Edition of 6 LM1726


8034, 1997 1997 Lambda print on acrylic glass 33 x 47 1/4 inches, 84 x 120 cm Edition of 6 LM1727


7090, 1999 1999 Lambda print on acrylic glass 34.3 x 63 inches 87 x 160.6 cm Edition of 6 LM1752


3019, 1998 1998 Lambda print on acrylic glass 34.5 x 71 inches 88 x 180 cm Edition of 6 LM1538


4936, 1997 1997 Lambda print on acrylic glass 55.12 x 51.57 inches 140 x 131 cm Edition of 6 LM1411


5334, 1998 1998 Lambda print on acrylic glass 29.5 x 86.5 inches 75 x 220 cm Edition of 6 LM1548.6


7055, 1998 1998 Lambda print on acrylic glass 37 x 86.5 inches 94 x 220 cm Edition of 6 LM1550


7819, 1997 1997 Lambda print on acrylic glass 37 1/4 x 70 3/4 inches 94.6 x 179.7 cm Edition of 6 LM1602


8144, 1998 1998 Lambda print on acrylic glass 41.34 x 59.06 inches 105.5 x 150.4 cm Edition of 6 LM1728


2508, 1997 1997 Lambda print on acrylic glass 49.5 x 55 inches 126.8 x 140.4 cm Edition of 6 LM1412