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What really lies down under: an interview with emerging artist Benedikt Partenheimer
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Benedikt Partenheimer discussing his life, his work and his father in Union Square.
On Monday night, March 30, I attended the opening reception for the first Hearst 8X10 Photography Biennial, where I met perhaps the youngest artist of all the winners (31), Benedikt Partenheimer.
Benedikt was staying in New York for a few weeks with friends, so a few days later, on April 3, we met to talk at Toasties in Union Square for a couple of post-hangover, celebratory drinks.
Following are excerpts from our conversation.
How did you get your start in art?
I actually grew up with it. My dad, Jürgen Partenheimer, is a painter and a sculptor, so from the first day I could stand on my own two feet I was running around in galleries. I was always surrounded by art, so it was almost inevitable.
Why photography and not painting or sculptor like your father?
First of all, I’ve never wanted to ride upon my father’s coattails. I admire my father and believe he is a great artist, but I wanted to do things differently. He is a non-figurative, abstract artist, I am not.
So, I’ve had to find my own niche in art. I found it when I began traveling at the age of 15 or 16, after my first big trip through Europe.
Subsequently, I’ve been through Asia, the Middle East and South America. Everywhere I went I took my camera. And as the medium became more important to me, I eventually realized that I wanted to be a photographer.
Much like your father, you grew up in Munich and although 31 years apart, you also both graduated from the Ludwig Maximilian University with degrees in art history. Yet, he went on to continue his studies in Arizona, whereas you decided go to Australia to study photography at RMIT, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Why?
I wanted to go somewhere I had never been and it was a chance to reinvent myself. Being away from my family, allowed me to discover who I really was, both as a person and an artist.
Moreover, based on my experience with traveling I’ve long felt that inspiration comes from seeing new things, and I wanted to be inspired.
How was the country down under?
It was absolutely beautiful. It is a great country with very friendly people. I learned a lot there.
Such as your immaculate English?
Yes, although I had studied it in grade school, being in Melbourne for three years allowed me to practice my English.
Also, I lived in the States at a young age for a while when my father was teaching art. [His father was a visiting artist at the San Francisco Art Institute and distinguished visiting professor at the University of California at Davis from 1983-85, as well as an artist in residence to the Glassel School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas in 1986.]
What else did you learn?
I learned quite a bit actually. I learned the skills and vocabulary I needed to make it as a photographer.
And, I learned a lot about myself, because by being in a completely new environment I learned how to grow by stepping out of my comfort zone.
How has the downturn in the economy affected your work?
The economy has affected everyone. It is harder to sell work and I am financing all my projects on my own so far. So, the less money there is, the harder it becomes to create new work.
And although I am not interested in fancy clothes and fancy cars, I am interested in becoming financially independent, so that I can solely focus on creating my art.
Your Turnaround series depicts photos of individuals standing with their backs turned to the camera. These lonely characters are often juxtaposed against broad swaths of urban landscapes. Why are these people turned away from the camera? It is almost antithetical to what we expect to see.
The series was inspired by the German painter Caspar David Friedrich, who was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter. In some of his painting, such as The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, you’ll see figures depicted from behind. Seeing this had a powerful effect on me. So, I decided to try and do something similar in a contemporary fashion.
Moreover, the series is designed to be contrary to the conventional portrait. Their backs are turned because these are “portraits” that are designed to encourage the viewers to see what the person in the picture is seeing, encouraging you to “look into the world” with them. It also allows the environment enveloping these individuals to suddenly come into focus for the viewer as well.
Moreover, the series deals with contemporary perception and expectation within a new context of portraiture and therefore establishes a different position for interpretation and imagination. In turn, it examines external appearance and inner experience—and the ambivalence of space.
What do you want to work on next?
I’d like to begin working on a project about borders—natural borders, the borders you cannot see in nature, but that we impose as humans. For example, taking photos of landscapes where two countries meet, but where the border is invisible. In particular, I’m interested in photographing those borders with a strong history, such as South Africa, which has been plagued by so much violence and civil strife.
I would like to explore all the borders that we have in our heads as well—everything from race and politics to anything that we create that separates us artificially. For nature doesn’t make the distinctions that we do, nature sees us as all the same.
*
After another round of beer, we ended our conversation and I ran off to another appointment.
While I was riding the subway I couldn’t help but think that despite the distinction that Benedikt wanted to convey between him and his famous father, there were still indeed underlying similarities that naturally connected them both.
Because although Benedikt’s work may not be like Jürgen’s on the outside, both artists still seem to be working from a similar source internal inspiration. For much like young Benedikt’s Turnaround series, his father’s work overall is well known to have a quality that “seems to express a state of uncertainty and inconsistency, calling into question the viewer's own preconceived certainties.”
But then again, perhaps it is incumbent of all emerging artists to distinguish themselves by prompting their viewers to think about the world in a new and unique manner.
Maybe than, at minimum, this is what Benedikt really inherited from his father.
For more information:
Artists & Photographers Mark Kessell | Curators & Dealers Bonni Benrubi Howard Greenberg |
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More About:
photography ·
art ·
emerging artist ·
German ·
photographer ·
Interview ·
Hearst 8X10 Photography Biennial ·
Benedikt Partenheimer ·
Hearst ·
Jürgen Partenheimer ·
Ludwig Maximilian University ·
Caspar David Friedrich ·
the wanderer ·
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology ·
RMIT
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