Fabrice Hergott, Emmanuelle de l'Ecotais, Eric Darragon, Freddy Langer, Heinrich Hell — Benjamin Katz

, Hirmer Verlag, 2016 Hardcover, 160 pages, ENG / FR / GER, 245 x 175 x 18 mm, NEW, illustrated in b/w. ISBN 9783943616392. Not one exhibition of these great German painters ? with whom Benjamin Katz has sometimes been associated for years ? can do without his subtly refined portraits. But his archive of more than 60 years of photography, with more than half a million negatives, still holds many surprises: in addition to series of conceptual photographs, there are also observations of everyday life ? landscapes, traces of industrial decline, architectural details, finds of ordinary poetry and moments of the absurd. The pictures are full of unspoken stories, use heterogeneous associations, and always allow the artist?s complex mind to shine through. Although the influences of older models such as Brassa , Rodtschenko and Cartier-Bresson are still evident, Benjamin Katz?s photographs are above all wordless narratives that combine humour as wisdom and suggestive expression in very simple narratives. One can only follow with admiration the results of this creation, in which concentrated observation illuminates rather minor moments of life with vivid clarity.