Gotz Diergarten

Gotz Diergarten (born 1972) studied photography at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, where he developed his rigorous, typological approach under the tutelage of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Diergarten documents vernacular architecture throughout Europe: storefront facades, beach cabanas, spas and metro stations in Germany, France, England and Belgium. His keen sense of color and texture add a dimension of play and whimsy to an otherwise austere conception, recalling the deadpan beauty of such American photographers as William Eggleston and Stephen Shore. In his METROpolis series, for example, Diergarten transforms the materials and patterns of passageways, tunnels and railway platforms into abstract color fields. In the absence of the human form, commonplace details like a door, window or street sign take on expressive personality--a testament to the artist's heightened sense of perception and his ability to illuminate the everyday.