Bernhard Prinz, born in 1953 in Fürth, studied art history and painting in Erlangen and Nuremberg. He has become internationally known for his photographic portraits. These are reduced to essential generalized forms, that are reminiscent rather of classical paintings than of photographs.
Prinz has gained numerous prizes and awards since he appeared in the international artscene in the early 1980s. He presented his series of works - some with installation elements - in numorous solo and group exhibitions such as documenta8 Kassel (1987), Serpentine Gallery, London (1988) , Vienna Secession (1990), Hamburger Kunsthalle (1996), Museum Folkwang Essen (2003).
Prinz's images of buildings, nature studies and still life taken in different places in Europe elude in their variety and diversity an immediate reading. Forms of expression and norms of behavior, gestures, transmission patterns and sign systems are disclosed as diverse aesthetic and cultural influences only in contrasting juxtaposition in the specific situation of the installation in the gallery space. Behind the surface of the supposedly known new insights can be gained, that revel in subtile humor and irony.
