A familiar stranger
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| © Torsten Solin |
Torsten Solin, photographer, painter and sculptor, was
born in Jena, Germany, in 1972. In 1997 he started his studies of painting/fine
arts at the Hochschule für Bildende
Künste in Dresden, in which he received classes by German painter Hans Peter Adamski, former member of the Mülheimer Freiheit neoexpressionist artistic group. Since 2004,
he lives and works in Berlin where he had his first solo exhibition with the photographic
series Dolls in 2007. In 2009 he
presented the sculptures Strange Animals in
Berlin and the photographic series Mirrorworld
in 2011 again in Berlin. His work
has been also exposed in several group exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands
and France. Next 13 May, he will present the series Das album at galerie
hiltawsky in Berlin, in which he explores
social and gender stereotypes through manipulated images combined with
self-portraits.
How would you define “art”?
For me art is a
mirror, a surface for subjective reflections and projections on a more
irrational, sensual and emotional stage of perception, irrespective and
independently of the intention of the artist. It’s a window to see things from
another point of view.
Painting, sculpture, photography…how do you decide the
technique to use in a new project?
I try out a lot
of things and decide while reflecting my intentions and possibilities. These
decisions are most of the time simply pragmatic. I came to the conclusion that
whatever medium, technique you use, the only thing that matters is the final
result you obtain.
You work always with the concept of identity. Could
you tell me who is Torsten Solin really?
Not really. For
me he is a familiar stranger behind a broken mirror.
Do you wonder about the self-identity or about the
fact that the only we are able to see in the others is own our reflection?
It’s about both.
For me they are part of the same family and lead to questions about our
perceptions and concepts of reality. It’s about our tunnel vision into the
outside and its subjective character.
How important is the subconscious in your work?
Very important.
I think it allows cognition and communication on a less intellectual, more emotional,
fundamental level.
When one reads the titles of your series, like Broken mirrors or Distorsionen, it is clear the reference to how important is
perception in our lives. Do you think the current dictatorship of image in
which we live avoid us to experience another kind of perceptions?
I don’t think
so. I would say it’s just a question of learning how to distrust the image or
learning how to read it.
The inclusion of photography in the mobile phones has
taken us to expose an identity always in an excessive and not very honest way.
How do you explain this attitude?
I guess it
reflects the importance of identity and its challenge in a very fast changing
world. Maybe it reflects/identifies superficiality and consume as social
ideals/ideas/norms.
Do you believe in the doppelgänger phenomenon? Why is this legend a source of inspiration
for you?
I believe that
we are - or soon will be - able to make copies of ourselves. So for me it’s
less a question of believing in a legend than a question of possibility and
consequences. It affects the subconscious. And I see it as a symbol of
challenging our common perception and conditions of identity.
In the current exhibition Das album, there is also the concept of memory in which our
perception plays a very important role. How is your relation with your past
experiences?
It’s a
speculative relation. I do not trust them blind. I believe them, but there is
no dogma of truth and no final recipe for the right way in it. We need to
experience our surrounding world for an orientation in it. We need it to
develop our specified, apparently unique, authentic identity and to construct
our individual, subjective system of belief (for instance through the find of
apparent causal relations). My experiences and memories tell me more about my
subjective filters of perception than about something objective „real“ outside
me.
Could you explain us a dream you have had while
sleeping?
Not really, I was
dreaming that I was sleeping while dreaming I was real...
Torsten Solin | Das album
13 May – 2 July 2016 at galerie hiltawsky
Tucholskystrasse 41, 10117 Berlin
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo by and courtesy of Torsten Solin
All rights reserved