Frank Ockenfels 3: Introspection - opening June, 2021 at Fotografiska in Stockholm.
Introspection will feature over 700 photographs, paintings, and personal collaged journals from Frank’s editorial, commercial, and personal oeuvre. The exhibition will premiere at Fotografiska Stockholm on June 4, 2021 through October 17, 2021 – and will travel to Fotografiska Tallinn and Fotografiska New York in 2022.
Introspection includes a sampling of Frank Ockenfels 3’s most iconic portraits as well as newly produced, never-before-exhibited works.
Ockenfels is best known for capturing raw portraits of celebrated actors, musicians and models, wherein the brightness of his subjects’ star power is juxtaposed by their slightly dark, twisted and tactile representations. The collection of work on view resembles an inkblot test of the artist’s psyche, providing an intimate look into his layered and multimedia image-making process.
By applying several techniques such as photography, painting, and collage, and experimenting with light, optics, and various cameras, Ockenfels stretches the limits of what a photograph or work of art can be. His sometimes rough treatment of his photographs – utilizing, for example, scissors, ink, or charcoal – transforms portraits of individual people into reflections of himself and his inner worlds. The results are intimate and often provocative images which carry an inner beauty, diffuse and difficult to grasp. A distinguishing mark of Ockenfels is a visual world of suggestive works, where everything is a bit askew, but always created with elegance and presence.
Ockefels has created hundreds of photographic works used for editorial spreads in top tier international publications, ad campaigns for global blue chips brands, and album covers for legendary musicians. After more than 30 years’ of creating art, Ockenfels is still on a journey of constant experimentation, following his own path and continuing the conversation between himself, the work, and the world around him.