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Torsten Neuendorff studied communication
and psychology in Berlin and works as a news editor.
Torsten Neuendorff
Pictures from photographs. The work of Roger Lips
Lips's photographs were all experiments. Holding a magnifying glass over
a tiny negative, he would scratch out eyes and graze faces.
Time and again he would pour aggressive chemicals onto the negatives,
allowing them to penetrate the many chromogenic layers. Did Lips master
the techniques he employed? Why did he alter the photograph in so many
ways? Why did a firstproof-print mean so little to him? Did he cross the
line between transformation and destruction? Why did he choose semi-translucent
film instead of canvas? Did he manage to strike a balance between the
painterly and photographic?
Without
title, 1985 |
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The outcome of an experiment is always open. In producing a picture, Lips combined
various techniques of postproduction, transforming the subject of his
photograph. Traditionally, photography was regarded as 'cold and detached',
as an art form dependent on technical perfection: protection of the film
against light, a clean lens, the appropriate distance between the photographer
and his subject. Lips, however, scrutinised his pictures and constantly
reworked and modified them. Through manipulation he gave his pictures
the colour, shape and composition which, as he saw it, made for a good
photograph. Up to his death, at the age of forty-two, he worked with an
extensive archive of pictures, most already bearing traces of his experimentation.
Although some seem identical, on closer inspection they can be distinguished
from each other by subtle nuances in filtering. Lips stockpiled pictures
for use in future series and collected photographs from newspapers as
a source of fresh raw material.
In Lips's work the subject of a photograph - a man, a portrait, a group,
etc. - becomes 'background'. The new foreground almost defies description.
It may seem to resemble peeling paintwork or convey the impression of
shattered light. Its immense importance to Lips is reflected in his many
and meticulous processing methods. At times, he even omits the 'background'
completely, producing photographs that come close to colour abstractions.
Yet no matter how bright, how evocative his colours, they are all artificial,
the result of the interaction of chemical substances with the photographic
components. In orchestrating the colours in a single picture, Lip's role
was not unlike that of the conductor in a 'jam session'.
Without
title 1985/91 |
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In the mid 1980s, he produced a work which exemplifies both his subject
choice and artistic treatment throughout his career. The upper third of
his Tryptique is a line drawing photographically reversed to a white on
black. Directly below is a colour photograph. At either side are strips
of blackened photographic paper. Dark shadows dominate, obscuring the
face of a black-haired young man, who is lit merely from behind. The darkness
in the photograph merges with the surrounding darkness. Volatile, the
sketch recalls the figurative style of the German artist, A.R. Penck,
and yet hovers on the border of abstraction.
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Without
title, 1988 |
The process of repeated reproduction created little stripes across the
young man's head and softened the edges. Lips loved these techniques and
applied them extensively. The apparent simplicity of Tryptique reinforces
its initial impact. Although it has been interpreted both as a psychological
portrait and as homage to a real-life lover, it is perhaps more rewarding
to regard it from Judaeo-Christian, psychoanalytical or erotic perspective.
The motif is suggestive of yearning: a face that cannot be discerned,
a glow in the hair and not least the similarity to a painted altarpiece,
albeit slightly out of proportion. The features evoke a sense of sympathy
which outweighs the symbolism of darkness. It is relatively unimportant
whether the picture is a magazine clipping, an everyday snapshot or the
memento of good friend.
Lips's procedure can be compared with the 'typecasting' practised by
the film industry, that is with the selection of actors for roles which
they have previously played with success. For which role, then, has the
young man been chosen? He remains a young, slim and beautiful man despite
the technical modifications.
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Without
title (Rolf), 1992 |
Yet it is impossible to say whether the processing creates a beauty
which, in real life, he does not possess. Hence we should not expect to
find clues to his individuality or real existence in the mid-Eighties.
Lips picks up what is beautiful and important and incorporates it in his
picture. Like other photographers, he also used the bodies of sculptures,
TV-stills or advertising photography for the same purpose. Paradoxically,
a complete stranger triggers a sense of longing. Historically, Tryptique
is a panel: aesthetically, it is based on the much more modern graphic
techniques popularised both in poster production and advertising.
In some other pictures, Lips applies the same principles, albeit less
successfully. He combined pictures to series and tableaux, yet when variation,
addition or climax are half-hearted, the results are less engaging. For
Lips the photographer, the artistic question of what 'worked' as a harmonious
or discordant combination may have been difficult to answer. Only the
viewer, perhaps, can decide. This explains the fascination of several
of his diptychs of a portrait and an abstract picture.
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Without title, 1985/88 |
Without title, 1986/88 |
It has sometimes been remarked that Lips's individual works can best be interpreted
in the context of his wider production. Certainly, he himself encouraged
this view by careful arrangement of his pictures at each exhibition hanging.
Yet given that he repeatedly shows the same faces, the comparative approach
has its limitations. Indirectly, it suggests that Lips avoided the very
combination that he probably desired most: a beautiful face and a perfect
body and same-sex affection.
Without
title 1985/86 |
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Lips produced his oeuvre between 1984 and 1994, an era in which Helmut
Kohl led a conservative government in Germany and Ronald Reagan was re-elected
US President. He often expressed dissatisfaction with his life and with
the limited scope for his own artistic development. In the light of his
works, this may seem surprising. Yet it highlights his preoccupation with
the question of the potential of photographs as an artistic medium. Seeing
photography as a means of stimulating reflection, he avoided the often
vulgar or obscene images which often served to voice spontaneous protest.
He did not use the debates on Aids or pornography to vent his own frustration.
By contrast, the pop singer, Sinead O'Connor, tore up a picture of Pope
John Paul, provoking fundamentalists to crush her CDs with a bulldozer.
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe invited the art world to share his affection
for a certain type of man, with the result that America's conservatives
cut state funding for critical exhibitions. By contrast, Lips preferred
cautious commentary, using for example the frames of the video of the
young singer, Marky Mark.
In retrospect it seems clear that Lips understood the signs of the times:
that it was now possible for a white singer to imitate black rap songs,
for a youngster to sport the physical appearance of a mature muscle man,
and for MTV cameras to exalt a shirtless boy with cropped hair. In presenting
a tableau and a long sequence of negatives, Lips aimed to rouse the viewer
to thought. Certainly, he was a gifted erotic photographer, as the tableau
'Rolf', with a naked, muscular male on black leather bed clearly illustrates.
Yet by showing sixteen pictures, like a contact sheet, he avoids that
erotic intensity which risked provocation.
Without
title (Frank und Karl Osswald), 1991 |
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Even in depicting naked couples, he works like a choreographer, carefully
managing the sequence of images. A shock-scene, a leather man physically
attacking his lover, might have inspired Mapplethorpe, who would have
seen the tension between sexual attraction and brutality. Lips had different
objectives. Against the background of Aids, he adopted a critical standpoint,
consciously propagating commitment and tenderness among gays.
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conserver
sex links = oben sowie als auch unten = conserver sex rechts
(Artificial “canned” sex (left); above as well as below: artificial
“canned” sex (right)), 1992) |
Lips attempted to reconcile his ideas, as expressed in the title of his
show, 'Above as Beneath', with his artistic strategy. Staged scenes are
casually depicted. Small pictures are presented in elaborate frames. Conventional
subjects are outrageously processed.
Torsten Neuendorff, April 1999
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