31.08. - 27.10.2007 Frankfurt am Main
 

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Flavia Söllner
*1983 in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt - D

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About Flavia Söllner's photo work

These days girls don't leave anything to the imagination, but the discreet charm of Flavia Sollner's photography harkens back to the olden days when less was more and a subject didn't have to show pubic hair to get noticed. Sollner's photographs utilize the lost arts of mystery and allure that is all but absent in the current climate of over-exposed, Juergen Teller and American Apparell campaigns. Using nighttime as a veil, Sollner strategically lifts the darkness to show us the mysterious goings-on of her dark fancy: a flash over the shoulder-blade of a half-naked boy, carlights over the frozen ridges of a country road, dawn over troubled water. And although her work is very cinematic and even sinister, it is often described as 'fairy-tale'. This fairy-tale connection is apparent in the titles of So As I Might See You Better and In the Company of Wolves, however they echo the tales of the Grimms and H.C. Andersen in little else. For example, Tale of Our Purloined Breath has more in common with stills from a Cohen Brothers thriller than an Angela Carter story. Suspense and fear permeate these photos as much as any magic.

Brazilian-Bred and Norwegian-Raised, she simultaneously evokes the overgrown rainforests of Belem (where the Amazon meets the ocean) and the stark darkness of the Oslo wintertime (where the sun barely rises in January).

Infact, a large part of the intrigue of her work lies in that neither-nor netherworld where tropical meets frigid and girl meets boy. It's the oldest story in the world, one of opposites attracting, repelling, loving and fighting.

And it's this distinctive tone of epic yet private conflict in her work and practice that have garnered much attention over the last year as her photographs and interviews have appeared in Marie Claire Italia, Zoe Magazine, WeltKunst, Image Magazine and Soup. She's also enjoyed a fair bit of exposure via the exhibition racket at the Year_07 Art Fair here in London's City Hall, Mi Art! in Milan, Close to Dark in Venice and an upcoming show in New York City at Galerie Poller. So it seems that Sollner's photography has certainly struck and sucked in fans and collectors alike in the already oversaturated world of photography. And although it's taken restraint and skill to court the crowd, Sollner understands that there's no pleasure in the immediate gratification of flashy sensationalism. She echoes the wisdom and advice of old-wives and Bobby Womack when she says in an interview, 'you must leave them wanting more'.

Text by Sophia Al-Maria



Biography
2002-05  KIAD - Kent Institute of Art & Design, Maidstone, UK
             Upper Second in BA (Hons) Photography & Media Arts

2007-08 Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK, MA Aural
             and Visual Cultures
             Lives and works in Oslo and London

Solo Exhibitions

2008   The Night, Though Clear, Shall Frown, And The Stars Will Not Look Down -

             curated by Amal Khalaf, 14.11. - 15.12.2008, Hold & Freight, London
2007   'After, Ever After, Galerie Poller, Frankfurt am Main
          'Quiet Nights', Main Program, Daylesford Foto Biennale 2007,
             (Hollyoak House, Trentham), Daylesford AUS (C - Catalog)
2006   'The One Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was', Blomgvist
             Kunsthandel - BQ Galleri, Oslo, N (C)

Group Exhibitions
2007   'Close to Dark', Jarach Gallery, Venice, I
2007   Exit Galiery, London, UK
2006   Venice International Photo Contest 2006, Venice, I
2006   Emerging Photographcrs 2006, Lennox Contemporary, Toronto, CND (B - Book)
2006   Denver International Exhibit, Denver Airport, USA
2006   Juvenarte 2006, Galleri Fimbul, Oslo, N
2006   AOP Open 2006, AOP Galleri, London, UK
2006   'Photo Works of the 21st Century & Beyond', The Center for Fine Art
           Photography, Fort Collins, USA
2006   BQ Gallert, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, N
2006   'After Dark', Center Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, USA
2005   Juvenarte 2005, Galleri Seilduken, Oslo, N
2005   KIAD Degree Show, Candid Arts Trust, London, UK (C)
2005   Degree Show, KIAD, Maidstone Campus, UK
2005   AOP Student Award Show, AOP Gallery, London, UK

Affiliations
UKS - Unge Kunstneres Samfund, Norwav
A&AD Talentpool, England

Awards
Short-listed for the Al Thani Photo Awards 2006, Dubai
Short-listed tor the AOP Open Award 2006, London, UK
Honorable Mention - Magenta Emerging Photographers 2006, UK, USA, Canada (B) Honorahlc Mentions (6) - International Photography Awards (IPA) 2006, USA
UKS Award for best piece at Juvenarte 2005, Oslo, N
Short-listed tor the AOP Student Photographer of die Year 2005 Award, London, UK

Collections
ANSA, Oslo, N
Blomgvist Kunsthandel, Oslo N
Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, USA

Bibliography
'Fotografare La Notte', interview by Germano D'Acquinto, zoe magazine 20/primavera 08, p.45
'Luici D'Inverno', interview by Germano D'Acquinto, MarieClaire (Italy), January 2008, p.3
Flash Forward: lmerging Photographers 06, Magenta Publishing for the Arts, Canada
UCCA Prospectus 2007/2008, UK
ANSAnytt06, nr. 1, Norway
ANSAnytt05, nr. 5, Norwav
Soup Magazine, vol. 3, UK
Image Magazine, vol. 357, UK






 

 © Flavia Söllner & GALERIE POLLER
Brückenstrasse 9-11   60594 Frankfurt am Main   Germany   Phone +49(0)69-624042   mail-ffm@galerie-poller.com
547 West 27th Street, 2nd Floor   New York   NY 10001   USA   Phone (212) 967 5700    mail-nyc@galerie-poller.com  
www.galerie-poller.com