Erasmus Schröter

Series "Extras"
Series "GDR"
Series "Bunker"
Series "Contest"
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THEATRE OF THE OVERLOOKED
About the work of German Photo Artist Erasmus Schröter
by Tobias Wieland

When the the Leipzig (East Germany) based Photo Artist Erasmus Schröter and his team uses light to dramatically stage objects, there is a smell of petrol in the air. Powerful generators provide electricity for entire rows of colored spotlights, wich throw brilliant, heavily colored light on strange objects located on the site chosen for the photographic project. In his images, Schröter celebrates things existing on the periphery, in darkness – left to disappear. Schröter has spent several years employing this approach to photograph the ruins of bunkers on the North Sea and Atlantic coasts of Europe. These gray, slowly decaying, bizarre blocks of concrete are abruptly torn from their slumber of Schröter`s illumination. Bathed in almost obscenely garish colors, wich could well have been borrowed from the world of advertising, these objects develop a surprising ambivalence between beauty and menace. It is especially the images of the seawashed concrete skeletons in the evening light wich provocatively counteract the mood of the romantic german paintings of a Caspar David Friedrich or Arnold Böcklin. The martial concrete of the bunkers contrasts sharply with the series of desolate , abandoned summer houses photographed by Schröter. Here one sees the extremely fragile, ramshackle, wooden remnants of the enjoyment of a garrden that is now long since past private architecture, possibly constructed by the same generation of men who had to build the bunkers. Abandoned to decay and vandalism, they number among the things that are usually overlooked, no longer perceived, and certainly not considered worthy of a photograph. Caught in Schröter`s theatre of light,however,they take on a mysterious dignity and significance. Erasmus Schröter belongs to those photo artists who employ the tools of conventional chemical photography - devoid of manipulations on computers or in the laboratory – to explore the boundaries of their medium. The raw material used to create magic of his images is the same raw material on wich photography has been founded since its inception – light.

Biography
  • 1956 born in Leipzig
    1977-82 Studies of photography at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (Diploma)
    2005/2006 assistant professor at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
    2021 died in Leipzig

Solo shows

  • 2021 In Memoriam, Spinnerei Halle 14, Leipzig 
    2019     Gegenspieler, Kunstsammlung Jena (Germany)
  • 2018 Montevideo (with Annette Schröter), Museum of Visual Arts, Leipzig
  • Montevideo (with Annette Schröter), Stadtgalerie Kiel
  • 2015 Bunker, Goethe Institute, Belgrade
    Trostbrücke (with Annette Schröter), Kunstverein Freunde Aktueller Kunst, Zwickau (Germany)
    2014 AM ENDE DER ZUKUNFT - Porträts aus der Serie 'Komparsen', Kunsthandel Jörg Maaß, Berlin
    2012 Counterpoint. Light pictures, Museum of fine arts, Leipzig
    IM MONDSCHEIN - Fotografie und Sammlung aus der DDR, only photography, Berlin
    2011 Escape from Colditz, Annette Schröter & Erasmus Schröter, departurelounge, London
    Light and shadow / with Annette Schröter, German Embassy, London
    2009 On shore- photography in the Museum Bautzen on the occasion of the art award Bautzen 2009
    2007 Patina, Gallery Kleindienst, Leipzig
    2005 Hiding in Plain Sight, Stanley Picker Gallery Kingston, London
    The obstructed view, art gallery Fürth, Fürth
    Men, Women, Dogs, Gallery Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
    2004 Shine XL, Gallery Binz & Krämer, Cologne
    Hiding in Plain Sight, Cube Gallery, Manchester
    Hiding in Plain Sight, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby
    Schröters Welt, artists´ house Bethanien, Berlin
    2003 The supernumeraries, art association Marburg, Marburg
    Glanz, city gallery Bietigheim-Bissingen, Bietigheim-Bissingen
    2002 Gallery Kleindienst, Leipzig
    Midland Art Center, Birmingham
    Museum of the city of Zwickau, Zwickau
    UH Galleries, University of Hertfordshire
    Schröter + Schröter, art hall Erfurt, Erfurt
    DNA - Gallery, Berlin
    2001 Goethe Institute, Thessaloniki
    Art collection Tumulka, Munich
    Art hall Gießen, Gießen

Group shows

  • 2019 1980 - Bilder zweier Jungen, Galerie Kleindienst Westside, Leipzig
  • Von Ferne. Bilder zur DDR, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
  • 2018 Ins Offene. Photography in East Germany since 1990, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale
  • 2017 Von (Ab)Wesenheiten, Sparkasse Leipzig Art Exhibition Hall, Leipzig
  • Tattoo and Piercing. The world under the skin, Museum für Völkerkunde / Grassimuseum, Leipzig
  • 2015 frei sehen, Gallery in the Museum Tempelhof, Berlin
    Tierversuche, Galerie Rieker, Heilbronn (Germany)
    Counterpoint, Sparkasse Leipzig Art Exhibition Hall, Leipzig
    2013 Donation Herbert Lange.Fotographien 1925-2009, Kunstsammlung Chemnitz
    Crossing Views. Fotografie aus Leipzig, Marburger Kunstverein
    Blütenzauber, Museum Schloss Bad Arolsen
    Neuland! Macke, Gauguin und andere Entdecker, Kunsthalle Emden
    2012 Leipzig Art Panorama, Seongnam Art Center, South Korea
    Double Exposition, Le Goethe-Institut Lyon
    Das Loch in der Wand, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
    TWIN TOWN, Korean Cultural Centre UK, London
    GESCHLOSSENE GESELLSCHAFT - Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR 1949 - 1989, Berlinische Galerie, Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, photography and architecture, Berlin
    ANEIGNUNG DER GEGENWART - Sammlungsausstellung 2012, GFZK, Leipzig
    2011 Leipzig. Photography since 1839, Museum of Visual Arts, Leipzig
    Malimo & Co, Fashion in Gdr between Dream and Reality, Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig
    2010 With distance - close. Photography from Leipzig, Opelvillen Rüsselsheim
    Face to Face-German Contemporary Photograpy, Dong-Gang Museum of Photography, South Korea
    2009/2010 The other Leipzig School - Photography in the Gdr, + Image of the homeland. Real-Photo Post cards of the Gdr of the collection Erasmus Schröter, Art hall Erfurt
    2009 With distance - close. Photography from Leipzig, Museum of Art Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus (art collection of Brandenburg, Cottbus)
    Übergangsgesellschaft, Porträts und Szenen 1980 bis 1990 Academy of the Arts, Berlin
    60/40/20. Art in Leipzig since 1949, Museum of Visual Arts, Leipzig
    East – for the record, Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig
    2008 Drawcula, Gallery Kleindienst
    Light and shadow, Annette Schröter and Erasmus Schröter, Paper cuts and photography, Guardini Gallery, Berlin
    New Leipzig School, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen
    pro figura - 10. Autumn Salon Bautzen 2008 - city museum Bautzen
    Friction and Conflict - Kalmar konstmuseum, Kalmar
    F/Stop 2. International Festival of Photography, Leipzig
    2006 Made in Leipzig – Images of a city, Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg
    2005 Kalaizis / Schröter - Men, Women, Dogs!, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
    3 x 3 from Leipzig, Gallery Kampl, Munich
    Because there was a fire in my head, South London Gallery, London
    Generation of Transition - Contemporary Photography from Leipzig, ArtScan Gallery, Houston
    2004 Art in the GDR, Art and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn
    2003 Art in the GDR, New National Gallery, Berlin
    Attack - Art and war in the age of media, art hall Vienna
    Contemporary german photography, Folkwang Museum, Essen
    2002 Five by Five, Hirschl Contemporary Art Gallery, London
    Without Consent, Centre d`Art Neuchatel, Neuchatel

Grants

  • 2009 Art award Bautzen 2009
Exhibitions
Website