DAVID FRIED selected recent works PHOTOGRAPHY: In bed with lucy and dolly photograms 1 photograms 2 Rainscapes photography 1 photography 2 Vesicles of endevour photograms 3 SCULPTURES: Self organizing still life movies of interactive sculptures sculptures 1 sculptures 2 Stemmers sculptures 3 sculptures 4 EXHIBITIONS: exhibition views curriculum vitae TEXTS: english - deutsch photograms interactive sculptures interview contacts on site Optomized for 120 DPI flat-screens on Netscape type browsers. Resolution: 1400 x 1050 Images may appear "Pixelated" when viewed with MS-Explorer on high-res flat-screens! © david fried 2003-7
Selection from the series of photographic works "Rainscapes" 2003-6. scroll down for more << home : david fried - contemporary art / kunst

David Fried, Rainscape No.44, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm. >Detail
David Fried, Rainscape No.48, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm. >Detail
David Fried, Rainscape No.41, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm. >Detail
David Fried, Rainscape No.49, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 60 x 80 cm. >Detail
David Fried, Rainscape No.42, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm. >Detail

David Fried, Rainscape No.51, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm.

David Fried, Rainscape No.45, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm. >Detail

David Fried, Rainscape No.52, 2006, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm.
David fried, Rainscape No.1, 2003, archival c-print on aluminum, 125 x 256 cm. >Detail
David
fried, Rainscape No.6, 2003, archival c-print,
diasec, aluminum, 30 x 45 cm.
>Detail
David
Fried, Rainscape No.20, 2004. archival
c-print, diasec, aluminum, 86 x 115 cm
>Detail

David Fried, Rainscape No.7, 2003, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 55 x 115 cm.

David Fried, Rainscape No.11, 2004, archival c-print, diasec, aluminum, 55 x 115 cm.
Rainscapes - Photography
At first glance, the colorful arrays of countless water drops in Fried’s Rainscape photographs appear to be falling galaxies - clusters of dripping light painted on the night sky. On closer inspection one sees that they are actually photographs of pure falling Rain.
Fried captures strongly individual patterns of rainfall on large format color film. Rich chromatic variations are revealed by the prismatic effect of light passing through each individual raindrop, evoking a spacious cosmic look. Fried’s large-scale Rainscape photographs exude a quiet replenishing quality that unloads poetically within the viewer.
Observing what gives rise to civilizations, or may ultimately lead to their demise, Fried sees freshwater as an issue of great importance in the 21st century. Since ancient times, with prayer and ritual - to science and its methods, humans have wished to influence the weather, and although the collective human pursuit has undoubtedly had profound affects on the ecosystem, we are luckily still unable to control bigger systems such as the weather. Rain still falls freely through the world’s trees, and harvesting hands before completing it’s cycle. However, access to - and usage of - clean water is being moved into increasingly privatized hands, servicing industry more than local needs and down river ecosystems. Fried’s Rainscapes portray sweet water at its birth and invites us to contemplate its worth as we become its temporary custodians.
Interview exerpt: with Eva Mayer / Meier Stadtmagazin November 2007
DF: “The inspirational kick for my “Rainscape” works came in April 1995 on the island of La Palma. Events there led to an ongoing series of non-digital large-format photographs of pure falling rain. Some look like millions of colorful galaxies painted on a night sky, while other images captured against cloudy dusk skies, appear more terrestrial.
The story goes: I was staying at a rented hut by a farmer family doing watercolors. They told me it hadn’t rained a drop in over one and a half years on the west side of the Island where we were. One day I bicycled up the 2400 meter volcano through the clouds, getting wet by them at 2000 meters, and I instantly felt rejuvenated. Later that night at a big local outdoor Fiesta, I began a spontaneous 6 hour rain dance – yeah, the live 17 piece band was incredible too! The 150 or so town folk and farmers thought I was totally nuts, but the kids really had fun joining in. The next day it actually did rain and the following night, all the farmers in the area brought me fruit and homemade wine in sincere thanks and wonder.
Weather
is something that throughout the ages, humans have wished to influence
and control by means of prayer and ritual, or by way of science
and its methods. In 2003 there was a record drought in normally
overcast Germany where I stay, and it was then that I began to
document every night-time rainfall possible with an elaborate
technique, which includes 8x10” film and up to 20,000 watts
of flash. This is because my subject matter is essentially transparent
and wants to stay that way!“
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