Alex Kayser
Photo Basel 2023
13 – 18 June, 2023
The dance with Helen, 1974
Salvador Dali kranz
Canvas Meret Oppenheim, 1977
In collaboration with Galerie Esther Woerdehoff (Paris + Geneva) and the Alex Kayser Foundation, photo basel 2023 present the special exhibition "Alex Kayser".
.
The Basel born photographer ALEX KAYSER (1949-2015) completed an apprenticeship in photography at Hugo Jäggi before moving to Essen in 1970 to study photography with Professor Otto Steinert at the Folkwang School.
As he began his studies, Alex Kayser increasingly explored experimental photography and the related field of photographic sequences.
While initially working in narrative black-and-white photographs, Alex Kayser changed his approach starting 1974 and began increasingly coloring his photographs by hand. From this point on, the interest in coloring continued throughout a variety of his work series.
At the same time, Alex Kayser began to work with photography in a cross-media and performative way. A found plastic toy poodle named Zak supported him in these endeavors and is emblematic of the humorous approach of Alex Kayser's work.0
In 1978 he relocated to New York, where he carried out his "Artists' Portraits" series over several years, the protagonists of which were always drawn from New York's artistic environment.
Alex Kayser pursued this serial approach increasingly in the following years and can be seen in particular in the series "SX-cult", "Heads" and "Swiss Federal Councillors", which show the constantly repeating process of taking portraits of a thematic group.
PHOTO BASEL
Volkshaus Basel
Rebgasse 12, 4058 Basel
