RococoI · Early Dance
Contemporary Stagings
Impressively colourful, provocative, tongue-in-cheek, glamorous, opulent, garish and intimate at the same time, the work of Mathias Kniepeiss takes the viewer on journeys through time and into whimsical worlds.
In his sublimely exaggerated series he uses photography to eliminate the boundaries between reality and illusion. He works in real locations, gathering a team of actors, make-up artists, costume and set designers to recreate hyper-real settings in which every last detail has been researched and prepared meticulously in advance.
His handling of light and shadow, movement and stillness, colour and composition is more akin to painting in the style of the old masters than to classical photography. Instead of a palette and brush, he uses digital tools.
The Rococo Series
Realised in 2013 with a team of 6 people and 8 actors in the south of Austria. Preparation and planning took 6 months. In an original rococo castle, 4 so-called one-shot productions were created in a single day.
Rococo is a mixture of modern photography, live performance and digital painting. The interpretation is based on extensive research into the period, with the intention of reflecting our present in the past and the past in our present.
To achieve this we use the body language of our models, the overall composition of the group, colour psychology, made to measure costumes, lavish set designs, real locations, accessories accurate in every detail, modern postproduction and, finally, special printing processes.
Behind the Scenes
- Reconstruction as interpretation
- The respective periods are studied in detail in collaboration with a selected team of experts. Original locations, custom-made historical costumes, accessories and every detail are precisely worked out for the contemporary staging.
- Making history tangible
- Based on the existing backgrounds, the number of actors, the planned choreography and the staging, sketches are created incorporating various image composition rules.
- Focus on the human being
- Using innovative photography and lighting, one-shot stagings are created. Body language and gaze are rehearsed with each actor individually and then implemented with everyone present.
- The final touch
- The post-processing is an important part of the process. Colour intensity and contrasts are tailored to the subject and digitally painted over with graphic tablets and pressure-sensitive pens.
- Print becomes communication
- State-of-the-art printing processes are used for the canvas prints. The impact is heightened by the intense colours, the depth they create and the finely grained surface.
- The frame enhances the work
- The frame serves as a stage for the image and puts the content in the foreground. It is the spatial separation from its surroundings that sets the work of art in scene.
Awards
- 2015 · CIDPAE China International Digital Photography Art Award · Gold
- 2015 · PX3 Paris · Silver Award, category Portrait
- 2014 · Art Basel Miami · Young Artist of the Year Award
Prints
- Limited edition of 4 prints per artwork, plus one artist’s proof each
- 20 artworks overall
- Signed
- Including certificate
- Artworks available in your preferred size, from 100 × 56 cm to 195 × 110 cm
- Printed on canvas
- Wooden frame construction
- Mounted vintage frame
Team
- Costumes
- Bettina Dreißger
- Styling
- Ulrike Dominco & Susanne Malik
- Research
- Klaus Koiner
- Postproduction
- Philipp Schulz
- Assistants
- Tobias Lange
- Location
- Rococo Castle Stainz
- Models
- Anita Zotter, Stefan Gostischa, Karin Wolf, Gerhard Angerer, Uschi Binder, Fred Wallisch, Bettina Dreißger & Klaus Koiner