2
first consequence. This is accompanied by the fact that insight and
doctrine are no longer expected from art. With each new teaching, people
are afraid that the faith of the disciples will be betrayed yet another time.
In a certain sense, that is the primal fear of the homo artis.
Perhaps art has lost something in the last fifty years – namely the accom-
plishment which results from the elitist striving for genius. But some-
thing has also been added: Let us call it
a return to archetypical forms
in
the sense of overcoming banality. What is gained from returning to these
archetypes may even be greater than the loss of aesthetics. Various artists
have gone in this direction: some examples are Antes, Kriester and Moore
and, if you so will and in another sense, also minimalists such as Andre,
Mangold, Rückriem and Stella or, in significant parts of their work, the
photographers Callahan, Fontana, Giaccomelli, Hervé and Siskind. The
wall pictures of Brassaii could also be included here. And perhaps, in a
transformed sense, the work of Andreas Gursky could also be added to
the above mentioned.
To answer the original question unambiguously: My roots as member of
my generation and my faith in the uniqueness of the individual – in equal
measure – form the basis of my concept of individuality. Of course, this
can also be seen as a limitation. One should not fail to recognise that
mass phenomena like theWorld Cup Football Championship in 2006,
with the increasing possibilities of television and computer technology,
play an ever greater role in our lives. Directing this new global sentiment
into artistic avenues is the concern of the generation creating art today –
of which Andreas Gursky, in my opinion, is one of the outstanding
figures.
NL – The democratisation of the art world that you mentioned has not
only led to a banalisation of art motifs like in pop art or in street photo-
graphy. At the same time, because photographic equipment and proces-
ses have become simpler, there has also been a democratisation of the
technical means. Given the glut of images we are confronted with, how
can photography as art be distinguished, for example, from holiday or
family photography?
3 -Win Labuda,
Sculpture
Photo 1 after Auguste Rodin
“The Scream”
4 -Win Labuda,
Sculpture
Photo 14 after G. Kolbe
“Dancers-Fountain”
