"My career has gone through many changes in life before entering the world of professional photography:
Born in a wine region along the Rhine River, I hitchhiked as an 18-yeard-old to Nepal and back, walked the Himalayas for month, followed by formal training and degrees in graphic design and cabinetry in Germany, including professional furniture and antiques restoration, further extensive travel in Europe and North America, study of jazz guitar at the music faculty of U of Cologne, Germany, performing and recording in North America and Europe.
Yet my outlook on life changed again after moving to Canada. Living in northern Ontario, I discovered the grandeur of wild northern landscapes. Solitude and reflection at many remote canoe trips had a profound and lasting influence on my work. Yet, despite the monumental presence of realistic landscape, I realized, more and more, the importance of abandoning labels and realism and focusing solely on line, shape and space ... of seeing things in an abstract way. It increasingly changed how I look at things.
I see photography as a creative process much like painting or sculpture, emphasizing interpretation and expression rather than mere recording of reality or as a vehicle to convey sociopolitical messages. I want to emphasize the challenge and recognition of pure design ... where line, shape, texture IS the message. It is of importance to me making a clear distinction between the natural design observed and the personal design created. I want to convince the viewer to abandon the notion of reality or truth, so often, misguidedly, associated with photography and rediscover its original, artistic mandate. I reject all attached purposes, messages, stories and hidden agendas and focus on the pure power of the visual experience."
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Klaus' B&W-Duotones of dramatic landscapes, as well as series of non-representational images found recognition throughout the region and with collectors and designers across Canada, the US and the Middle East. Recent series include experimental work, involving multi exposure- off register- and selective focusing techniques, resulting in what he calls Photo-Impressionism.
His exhibition “View From The Edge” explores juxtapositions of outgoing, expanding vistas and the close and intimate, as well as a series of reflections representing the visual transformation from solid to liquid matter. His recent Ontario Arts Council funded project under the working title "Horizons" explores water and sky - emphasizing simplicity and negative space in yet another approach to free photography from the cliché of documentation and recording reality.
Besides observation and capture, he prefers to control all aspects of processing his work, including editing and darkroom techniques, as well as print-making.
Achievements
• Numerous publications in Photo-Life Magazine, outdoor magazines and tourism promotions, corporate and commercial applications in North America and Europe.
• Commercial assignments, reproduction of artwork, as well as over a decade of experience and clientele in photo-restoration.
• Photography of exhibitions and artwork for documentation and publication at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery 2006 - 2012.
• His work has been chosen by the Canadian Museum Of Nature / Ottawa for being part in ‘The Water Project’, a ten year national touring exhibition.
• Private collectors in Canada, the US and Europe, as well as with interior designers.
• Publication in Canadian Geographic’s special edition book “National Parks 2011”.
• Artist in Residence at Pukaskwa National Park 2011, 2012, 2013. Work with Parks Canada on promotional projects.
• The City of Thunder Bay / Ontario presented his prints to the recipients of the Thunder Bay Arts & Heritage Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
• Participation in a publication by the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, 2013
• Member and contributing artist with Artisans North West, Thunder Bay / Ontario, Canada
• Recipient of Ontario Arts Council Project Grants 2008-09 and 2014-15
• Photography Workshops with Parks Canada, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and locally.
Exhibitions
• 2003 Intergenerational Centre – Atikokan, Ontario
• 2004 Pictograph Gallery, Atikokan, Ontario
• 2005 Gallerie Paquin, Kapuskasing, Ontario
• 2005 Galley 815, Hurst, Ontario
• 2007 Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ontario
• 2007 A-frame Gallery, Sioux Lookout, Ontario
• 2008 Duluth Art Institute, Minnesota
• 2009 Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ontario
• 2012 Sioux Lookout Centennial Center, Sioux Lookout, Ontario
• 2016 Sioux Lookout Heritage Train Station
The influence of the natural world, combined with the urge to abstract and simplify, continues to play
a significant role in his work, creating his distinctive point of view.
Klaus Rossler © copyright