in his latest series blank, düsseldorf-based photographer andreas gefeller sets out to strain your brain. let’s hear his explanation, taken from the liner notes of a gorgeous book published at hatje cantz accompanying exhibitions in cologne and herford:

a wildly over-exposed image now seems almost perverse, an exotic throwback to the “technical failures” of old analog photography. but a “correctly” exposed photograph is a small point on the long scale between two blanks: complete darkness and complete light. a photgraph can be made exposing for the deepest shadows of its subject, leaving the mid-tones and highlights to “blow out”. exposing for extreme highlights can plunge most of the image into blackness. such images strain our expectations. this strain can, if we let it, open the possibility of a contemplation of just what it is we want from our eyes and what it is we want from what they see.

we are happy to share a select few of the photograhs from the blank, leafing through which feels as much like meditation as pure pleasure…