Sonja Braas

Wave

Sonja Braas. 2008; C- Print, Diasec, Framed 73 x 59'' / 185 x 149 cm

Lava Flow

Sonja Braas. 2005; C- Print, Diasec, Framed 73 x 59" / 185 x 150 cm From the Series The Quiet of Dissolution.

Eclipse

Sonja Braas. 2016; Pigment Print, Framed 57 x 69" / 176 x 144 cm From the series series An Abundance of Caution

About the Artist

The visual aesthetic of Sonja Braas (born 1968, Siegen) is one of dazzling paradox. Viewers see clearly recognisable natural phenomena and forces, such as icy alpine regions, thundering avalanches, tempestuous surf, or urban centres and cities flooded or in flames. Yet nature’s essence seems alienated. The images look artificial, for they are only partially based on actual nature and landscape photographs. Many of the images are of models built by the artist, lending them a characteristically uncanny atmosphere. While Romantic painting assigns the viewer a fixed viewpoint, generally represented by a figure in the picture, from which he or she can perceive the sublimity behind the terror of nature from a safe distance, Braas rejects any foothold whatsoever. Only the disembodied camera seems immersed in the events taking place in the photographs.

Artist CV

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

2013

· Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2012

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

2011

· TH 13, Bern, Switzerland

2010

· Kunsthalle Göppingen, Germany

2009

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2007

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2006

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Galerie Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

2005

· Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Germany

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2004

· Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany

· Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany

2003

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Holland

· Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

2001

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· La Filature, Mulhouse, France

· Goethe Institut, Paris, France

· Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt, Germany

· Gallery Windows, Bruxelles, Belgium

· Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

2000

· Gallery Bill Maynes, NewYork, USA

· Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Holland

· Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018

· Eve, Amar Gallery, London, UK

2017

· You want truth or beauty?, Kunsthalle im Kunsthaus Nexus, Saalfelden, Germany

· Bewegung im Bild, Die informelle Malerei trifft auf die Geste in der Fotografie, Maerkisches Museum, Witten, Germany

2016

· Beauty and the Beast, The Animal in Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA

· Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography,

Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, Londom, UK

2015

· Climats artificiels, Espace Fondation EDF, Paris, France

· The Mirror Of Illusions, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Take One: Contemporary Photographs, Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia

· Imagine Reality, Ray 2015, Frankfurt, Germany

· Landscape on my Mind, Landscape photography today Hamish Fulton to Andreas Gursky, Kunstforum Vienna, Austria

· Über Wasser, Malerei und Photographie von William Turner bis Olafuer Eliasson,Bucerius Kunstforum, Hamburg, Germany

· Human Nature, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, NRW Forum Düsseldorf, Germany

2014

· Fürs All Genug, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany

Human Nature, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Deutsche Börse Group, Eschborn, Germany

· Wunderkammer, F&C Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

2013

· No Place like Home, Kunsthalle HGN, Duderstadt, Germany

2012

· Collectors of Skies, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA

· Ground Control, Jahresmuseum im Kunsthaus Muerz, Austria

· Photographieren, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Landscapes, Fabian & Claude Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

· Elsewhere on the Meuse, Venlo, Netherlands

· Für Hund und Katz ist auch noch Platz, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany

· Home, Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, Germany

2011

· Surveyor, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, USA

· People and the City, Winzavod Centre for Contemporary Art, Russia

2010

· The BMW – Paris Photo Prize, Paris Photo, France

· Bumpy Ride, Fotografia Roma 2010, Rom, Italy

· Elsewhere, Idyll and Friction in the Landscape, Sint- Michielsgestel, Netherlands

2009

· Manipulating Reality, How Images Redefine The World, Strozzina ccc, centro di cultura contemporanea a palazzo strozzi, Florence, Italy

· Indagaciones y Myradas, tenerife espacio de las artes, Tenerife, Spain

· Hängung # 5, Deutsche Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung

Alison & Peter Klein, Kunstwerk, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany,

summer group show, fiedler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

· Ferne Nähe, ‚Nature’ in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany

· Expedition Polaris, Haugar Art Museum, Tønsberg, Norway

· Trouble in Paradise, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, USA

· The Best of Photography, Galerie Fabian& Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2008

· Review, fiedler Contemporary, cologne, Germany

· Freakish Nature, Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

· Einblick, Mönchehaus Museum Gosslar

· Die Landschaft jenseits der Romantik, Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

2007

· Vraisemblances, Gallery Xippas, Paris, France

· In den Alpen, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland

· White Out, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn& Taxis, Bregenz, Switzerland

· Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany

· Überblick: Konstruktionen der Wahrheit, Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie 2007, Darmstadt, Germany

2006

· Gletscherdämmerung, Eres Stiftung, Munich, Germany

· Fai da te. Il Mondo dell’Artista, Centro D’Arte e Cultura San Paolo Esposizioni, Modena, Italy

· I may be sometime, James Nicholson Gallery, New York, USA

· 20 years Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter,Galerie Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

2005

· Ideal Worlds – New Romanticism in Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Schirrn,Frankfurt, Germany

· Hoch Hinaus, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland

· Munch Revisited, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, Germany

· Strömungen, Gallery Wäcker & Jordanow, Munich, Germany

· Perspective Contemporaine, Gallery Vedovi, Bruxelles, Belgium

· On the right Slope, Gallery Anne Barrault, Paris, France

· Gezähmte Natur, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlung, Cottbus, Germany

2004

· A Traveller, Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Waves II - Tribute and Degressions, Musée Malraux, Le Havre, France

· Natur ganz Kunst, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany

· Photography XL II, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Frankfurt, Germany

· Contemporary Art from Germany, ECB, Frankfurt, Germany

Landscapes, Special Exhibition, Art Cologne, Germany

· Gezähmte Natur, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlung, Cottbus, Germany

2003

· Wonderlands, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, Germany

· In Nature, From the Obsessive to the Blind, X Photography Biennale, Turin, Italy

· Nicholson Gallery, San Francisco, USA

· Ordnung und Chaos, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland

2002

· Better Than the Real Thing, Smart Projects, Amsterdam, Netherands

· Saar Ferngas Preis, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany

· True Fictions, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Kunstverein, Germany

· Lingen, Kunst Haus Dresden, Kunstverein Bad Arolsen, Germany

2002

· Between Construct and Reality - Landscape in Contemporary Photography, Suermondt LudwigMuseum, Aachen, Germany

· Franciscus,Kunstenaars brengen een ode, Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Netherlands

2001

· The Promise of Photography, The Collection of the DG-Bank, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany

· Wild Gliders, Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Amsterdam, Netherlands

· Utopien heute, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany

Gallery Bernier/ Eliades, Athens, Greece

2000

· Landscape in Contemporary Photography, Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Germany

1999

· La Filature, Mulhouse, France

· Landesmedienzentrale, Hamburg, Germany

1998

· Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany

· European Photography Contest, Vevey, Switzerland

· Kodak Nachwuchsförderung (young talent), Cologne, Germany

· Zeche Eins, Essen, Germany

1997

· Galerie Energy, Dortmund, Germany

1996

· Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, Germany

1993

· Galerie der Neuen Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany

GRANTS / AWARDS

2016

· Prix Pictet Nomination

1999

· DG Bank Art Grant

1998

· Otto Steinert Preis, Honorable Mentioning

· Images 98, Grand Prix de la Ville de Vevey

1997

· Rheinhard Wolf Prize

· Kodak Prize for Young Artists

1996

· Fulbright Grant

· DAAD Grant (German Academic Exchange Service)

WORK IN COLLECTIONS (Selection)

Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg; Collection Hans Grothe, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg; DZ Bank; Deutsche Bank; Deutsche Börse AG, EZB, Frankfurt; Münchner Rück, Munch; EON AG, Düsseldorf; Westdeutsche Landesbank, Düsseldorf; Collection Alison & Peter Klein, Eberdingen- Nussdorf, KMS Fine Art Group

Private Collections in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Zurich, Hong Kong, Seoul

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