| Martin Liebscher refers to his narcissistic group pictures as "Family Pictures". He is the only person around in the worlds he creates. With a sense of humour he raises questions regarding the relation between individual and group as well as identity.
At the same time Liebscher's work points out the paradox that a person who is omnipresent is not really anywhere. Even though Liebscher is the "star" of his pictures he disappears in uniform anonymity.
The works are produced by digitally processing scanned photographs that Liebscher takes of himself by the means of an automatic shutter release. The figures are not digitally manipulated. They are images of a real person in action. In his family pictures Liebscher always works on the basis of a specific architecture or social environment. And the titles of his works are simply the names of the sites he invades as omnipresent protagonist.
In the works from the Bellevue theatre he enters the stage and plays different characters. He sits in every chair in the audience as if he were hundreds of people, or maybe just one and the same person caught in various situations: paying full attention to the play, suddenly in deep thoughts, chatting with the person sitting next to him etc.
Every possible way of behaving in a theatre is being explored. This is also the case in the panoramic evening picture from the Gas Station designed by Arne Jacobsen.
Besides the iconic Jacobsen buildings, Liebscher also presents family pictures from e.g. Kloster Eldena i in Germany, a popular motif of Caspar David Friedrich. In other pieces Liebscher makes use of more common sites such an executive room or a caravan site. (Galerie Asbaek) |
