Artists > Oliver Abraham

Oliver Abraham

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Oliver Abraham was born in Cologne in 1972. Between 2001 and 2004 he completed his studies in photography at the "Photography on Schiffbauerdamm" school in Berlin as a master student with Prof. Arno Fischer.

Since 2013 he has been working on a series of portraits of journalists, activists (among others WikilLeaks), philosophers, representatives of the "New Left" as well as artists who deal with the topic of surveillance and press freedom and the Express your political attitude artistically. The portrait sessions take place exclusively in natural light - with the exception of the portrait of Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he made the photos with artificial light due to the conditions and limitations. The main focus of the artist is to unite all "protagonists" - the different disciplines (philosophy, journalism, activism, art and politics) as well as different generations (pre- and postinternet, digital natives, ‘68 generation) - and using a continuous series of photos to show connections and influences among each other. Due to the political events, the work has documentary elements, whereas the selection of the people as well as the presentation are subjective. The persons portrayed are pursuing a common goal: the preservation of human rights - foremost the fight for freedom of opinion and the press and the critical examination of state surveillance. The analogous approach and the deliberate reduction on black and white and a limited number of films should allow an unfiltered and close representation of these personalities and thus act as an antidote to the digital flood of images. The first pictures of this series show Taryn Simon in 2009 and Patti Smith in 2010 and were still part of a series "Artist Portraits". It was followed by important events such as the Greek crisis, Edward Snowden's notices, the refugee crisis, Brexit, the presidency of D. Trump etc. Over the next few years, the series grew through more and more people engaged in the subject. Meeting the personalities and the related exchange, helps the Artist to better understand the events of the past years and also see things that apply beyond the daily official reporting.

Oliver Abraham lives and works in Cologne.

Solo Shows 2013 Galerie Chelsea, Sylt/Kampen: eight by ten with Freddy Langer "Lost Faces" 2012 Die Kunstagentin, Cologne: Character Stills 2011 Antiquariat Querido, Düsseldorf: Portraits 2011 Stefan Schuelke Fine Books, Cologne: Portraits 2003 Altes Hauptzollamt, Frankfurt/ Main: 100 Fotos Group Shows 2018 MPHQ: We could be Heroes 2016 Kontrastfotolabor, Cologne: 30 Years 2014 The Photobook Museum, Cologne: Dark Room Red Light mit Boris Becker and Bettina Gruber 2013 National Portrait Gallery, London: Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2013 2011 Atelier Martin Classen, Cologne: 25 Jahre Kontrastfotolabor 2006 20 Jahre – Kontrastfotolabor, Cologne 2004 Altes Polizeipräsidium Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main: Show me your sexy urbanity + End of Cool 2003 Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin: Bilder eines Jahres 2002 Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin: Bilder eines Jahres
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Artworks of Artist

Oliver Abraham
Trevor Paglen, artist, geographer, 19.6.2015



Oliver Abraham
Srecko Horvat, writer , philosopher



Oliver Abraham
Julian Assange, journalist, editor-in-chief for WikiLeaks, 21.12.2014



Oliver Abraham
Bastian Obermayer und Frederik Obermeier, investigative journalists (Panama and Paradise Papers) , 26.3.2017



Oliver Abraham
Agnes Heller, philosopher



Oliver Abraham
Stephane Hessel, diplomat, peace activist



Oliver Abraham
Patti Smith, musician, poet



Oliver Abraham
Michael Wolff, author, journalist



Oliver Abraham
Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist



Oliver Abraham
Angela Davis, civil rights movement activist, philospher



Oliver Abraham
Matthew Rosenberg, investigative journalist, 9.10.2018



Oliver Abraham
Masha Aloykhina, political activist, musician



Oliver Abraham
Noam Chomsky, linguist



Oliver Abraham
Doghan Akhanli, writer



Oliver Abraham
Yanis Varoufakis, economist, former finance minister of Greece



Oliver Abraham
Teju Cole, writer, historian, photographer



Oliver Abraham
Miao Zhang, journalist, 23.8.2015



Oliver Abraham
Pamela Anderson, model, actress, activist, 27.2.2019



Oliver Abraham
Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, philosopher and sociologist



Oliver Abraham
Sarah Harrison, journalist