Ute Eiselt
Ute Eiselt, southern Germany, freelance photographic artist specialising in macro photography.
Eiselt came into contact with art at an early age, as there were artists and art collectors in her close family circle. From 2021 to 2023, she received private art lessons from Helmut Vakily, Munich.
The play with light and shadow, sharpness and blurriness is an important creative element in her photographic work. The focus of her photographic work lies in abstraction. Her favoured photographic approach is macro photography.
Recently, human figures have also found their way into her artworks. These act as silhouette like figures in the pictorial spaces. They seem preoccupied with themselves and point to the deep mystery of human behaviour.
Ute Eiselt's art can be described as a combination of figurative and abstract. In her photographs, Eiselt explores the complexity of perception and thus finds her own individual artistic language.
Eiselt's photographic art gives us pause in a world full of dynamism and change. She opens our eyes to the beauty of the world in the midst of the overexploitation of nature.
Since 2013, her work has been continuously represented in solo exhibitions and exhibition participations on a national and international level. In addition, her illustrations have been published in art catalogues, books and magazines in Europe and the USA.
In 2022: Inclusion in the Artothek of AUTOREN GALERIE 1, Munich, Germany
1966 born in Neu-Ulm
1987-2013 various management positions in the educational field
1997 moved to Illertissen, Bavaria
2013 freelance photo artist Since
2015 VG-Bildkunst, Bonn
2021/2023 private art lessons with Helmut Vakily, Munich
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2024 „Mysterien“, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2023 „Kompositionen“, Galerie im Pressehaus Heidenheim
2022 „Folgenreiche Begegnungen“, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2021 „so much to tell“, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2019 „scheinbar unsichtbar“, Galerie auf der Insel, Thalfingen
2019 „Einblicke“, Galerie im Pressehaus, Heidenheim
2018 „Fotografie trifft Lyrik“, Benild-Hospiz, Illertissen
2016 „Zwischen Licht und Dämmerung“, Kabinett des Museums für bildende Kunst, Oberfahlheim
2016 „Neusicht“, WACHE GALERIE, Laupheim
2015 Galerie im Pressehaus, Heidenheim
2014 „Natürlich Kunst“, Kleine Galerie Forum im Hofgarten, Kultursommer Günzburg
2014 „Natürlich Kunst“, Landratsamt, Neu-Ulm
2013 „Phantasie & Fotografie“, Stadtbücherei, Erbach
EXHIBITION PARTICIPATIONS (selection)
2021-2024 „With kind regards“ / KünstlerInnen der Galerie, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2024 „Members Only“, Glaspalast, Augsburg
2023 159. Internationalen Bodensee-Kunstauktion, Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, Lindau
2023 „Sechs Fotokünstler der Galerie“, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2023 „Photography in the visual culture“, Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Palermo, Italien
2023 „Durch die Linse“, Museum für bildende Kunst im Landkreis Neu-Ulm
2023 „Woman`s essence show“, LABO 6/2 Gallery, Berlin,
2022 „With kind regards Vlll“ / Künstler der Galerie, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2022 „Woman`s essence show“, Iconic Galerie 24, Paris, Frankreich
2021 „With kind regards Vll“ / Künstler der Galerie, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2021 „Art Expo New York“, New York, USA
2021 „Kunst trotz(t) Corona“, Clarentinerkolleg Weissenhorn
2021 „Sm Àrt Fair“, Parc Jourdan, Aix en Provence, Frankreich
2020/2021 „Bilder, Briefe, Noten Cll/Clll“, 23 Künstler*innen aus dem In- und Ausland, Autoren Galerie 1, München
2021 „We contemporary art show“, Musa International Art Space, Salmgasse Foundation, Wien, Österreich
2020 „Woman`s essence show“, Palazzo Velli, Rom, Italien
2020 Marziart, Internationale Galerie, 6 Künstler*innen aus dem In- und Ausland, Hamburg
2020 „43 Jahre Autorengalerie 1“, München
2019 „The faces of contemporary art“, Musa International Art Space, art: ego culture center, Kiew, Ukraine
2019 „We contemporary art show“, Musa International Art Space, Topic Salon, Prag, Tschechien
2019 Art San Diego, San Diego, USA
2019 “Woman`s Essence”, Musa International Art Space , Palazzo Zenobio, Venedig, Italien
2019 “little treasures 2019”, TIA International Art Exhibition, Galleria de Marchi, Bologna, Italien
2019 Jubiläumsausstellung, „20 Jahre Kunst in Oberfahlheim“, Museum für Bildende Kunst, Oberfahlheim
2018 „Trevisan International Art Madrid 2018“, Ateneo de Madrid, Spanien
2018-2023 Kunstaustausch, „Artothek AAA 53“, Mayenne, Frankreich
2017 „little treasures 2017“ – TIA International Art Exhibition, Galerie De Marchi, Bologna, Italien
2017 „PAF-London“, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London, Großbritannien
2016 „Diverse 7“, Galerie Hoeb, Vöhringen
2015 „on top.“, 21. Triennale Ulmer Kunst 2015, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm
2014 „Schwäbische Künstler in Irsee XXVI“, Kloster Irsee
2013 „Kultur rund ums Schloss“, Babenhausen
2022 Aufnahme in die Artothek der Autoren Galerie 1, München
DIGITAL EXHIBITION PARTICIPATIONS (selection)
2024 World Art Dubai 2024, www.worldartdubai.com/the-fair
2024 EUROPARTFAIR - AMSTERDAM
TEMPORARY PRESENTATIONS IN ONLINE CATALOGUES (selection)
2023 Tokyo Art Prize ,Tokio Tower Art Fair, www.tokyotowerartfair.com
CFA Contests, www.circle-arts.com
Contemporary Art Station, www.contemporaryartstation.com
MutualArt, www.mutualart.com
Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, www.zeller.de
PUBLICATIONS
2023 Interview auf #ArtistFeature#AATONAU: https://aatonau.com/ute-eiselt-confluence-of-nature-art-and-aspiration/
2020 Eine Stadt im Spiegel der Zeit-Lockdown durch Covid 19“, BOD, ISBN: 9-783750-497535 (Ein fotografisches Zeitzeugnis)
2017 Lyrikband „Im Reim daheim“, von Isabel Eiselt und Makrofotografien von Ute Eiselt, Deutscher Lyrik Verlag, ISBN: 978-3-8422-4497-9
PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE VISUAL CULTURE“ VOL. 1 und VOL. 2, 2022/23 von Seradifalco Editore, Palermo, Italien, ISBN: 978-88-88891-38-5 / ISBN: 978-88-88891-47-7
PUBLIC PURCHASES: (selection)
2023 Sammlung Autoren Galerie 1, München
2022/2023 Landratsamt Neu-Ulm
2016/2022 Museum für bildende Kunst, Oberfahlheim
Given your rich familial background with connections to artists and art collectors, could you delve into how these early influences have sculpted your artistic ethos and methodology? How have these relationships specifically nurtured your affinity for macro photography and its detailed narrative?
My photographic work was influenced by my father's detailed drawings. He was a jewellery designer. He created new jewellery and had to draw it in great detail from all sides. The goldsmiths then had to transform his drawings into pieces of jewellery. Every now and then he would bring drawings and ideas home with him. He explained to me the individual steps involved in creating a new piece of jewellery. He liked to use beetles, flowers and fruit as models for his jewellery creations. They were inspirations from his immediate surroundings - nature. These very precise drawings, the effect of colour, perspective, light and shadow fascinated me greatly and inspired me to create my own work. However, there was only one other medium that came into question for me: photography. Even as a child, I experimented with a very simple, cheap camera and imagined publishing my photographs of birds as picture stories in books.
My photographic approach was also inspired by the work of my uncle, a restorer and art collector. When he showed me around his museum room or his restoration workplace, I was awestruck by the works of artists from times long past. It was fascinating to see how my uncle was able to retouch missing sections of pictures by looking very closely and using delicate brushstrokes, thus bringing the works of old masters back to life.
Both men taught me the art of looking closely. As a child, they were role models for me in observing my surroundings very closely and consciously noticing every little detail. At that time, I learnt to recognise and absorb the seemingly small details in our surroundings that we tend to overlook in everyday life.
The macro lens of my camera gives me the opportunity to get very close to my surroundings in order to show the small things in a big picture. In this way, my photographic works open up the way for me to bring my internalised view of the detailed world around me to the outside world and show it as photographs.
Macro photography uniquely captures the essence of subjects with intense clarity and detail. What initially drew you to this style of photography, and how do you believe it serves as a conduit for the themes of light, shadow, and abstraction that pervade your work?
When I started showing my photographic work to a wider audience in 2013, macro photography was still a largely unprocessed field. I was excited to experiment in this field and try out different ways of expression. I soon realised that by playing with light and shadow and playing with sharpness and blurriness, I could create tension in my image composition. This fact was reflected back to me by visitors to the exhibitions. So this approach became established in my photographic work.
Abstraction is another way of playing with my work. The macro lens on my camera allows me to get relatively close to my objects. This allows me to enlarge specific sections of what I perceive visually. The detail of the big picture changes the viewer's perception. It is often not possible to recognise which object was originally aimed at and captured by the camera. This is a particular attraction of my work and challenges the viewer's fantasy and imagination.
Reflecting on your educational journey under the mentorship of Helmut Vakily, could you discuss the most transformative aspects of his teachings? How did his approach to the interplay of light, shadow, sharpness, and blurriness refine your photographic techniques and artistic vision?
If I look at my educational path under the mentorship of Helmut Vakily, it offered me the conditions to think beyond my previous experiences and to apply new ways of acting. Through him, my artistic work was raised to a new level. I was able to discuss selected photographic works of my own with Helmut Vakily, for example with regard to image composition or the recognition value of my photographic works on the art market. He gave me insights from his decades of gallery experience (AUTHOREN GALERIE 1, Munich) as well as from his wealth of experience as a painter, draughtsman, graphic artist and poet. This broad portfolio of his accumulated knowledge opened up to me as a great treasure that I can now draw on again and again in my work. He encouraged me in my previous work and broadened my view of new approaches to photography. I would like to emphasise here the expansion of the visual language that can be read from a photographic work.
Your ongoing collaboration with Autoren Galerie 1 has been a cornerstone of your artistic career. Can you explore how this partnership has facilitated your growth as an artist and influenced the way your work is perceived in the broader art community?
The partnership and collaboration with AUTHOREN GALERIE 1 is indeed a cornerstone of my artistic career. Through this co-operation I began to understand more and more how the art world works. My understanding of the behaviour and motives of other artists and gallery owners expanded. The possibilities for my own exhibitions increased, including the organisation of solo exhibitions. My wealth of experience grew steadily in this way. Both through personal dialogue with other artists and through regular exchanges and input with the gallery owner and artist Helmut Vakily. AUTHOREN GALERIE 1 helped me to make contact with art historians with whom I could discuss my photographic work. These opportunities to exchange ideas about content gave me new motivation and energy for my current and future work. Last but not least, I realised how important it is to ‘stand one's ground’ in the art world with a certain self-confidence and to approach the other person openly and clearly.
You've emphasized the importance of participating in a variety of exhibition formats. Could you elaborate on how these varied platforms have enabled you to engage with diverse audiences? What strategies do you employ to ensure your work resonates with both art aficionados and newcomers?
Participation in a variety of exhibition formats is important to me. I am sure that I can always reach a different target audience in this way. It makes a difference whether my work is shown at a large art fair, whether it hangs in a Doctor's practice or whether it is exhibited in a small, fine gallery. Conversations with visitors are often more possible if the exhibition is on a smaller scale. The range of people who see my work increases enormously when the exhibition formats are diverse. It is also important to me to make art accessible to people with lower incomes, with low-threshold offers, e.g. in public spaces.
The recent incorporation of human figures into your predominantly abstract compositions marks a significant evolution in your work. What inspired this shift, and how do you think these silhouetted figures alter the interpretative dynamics of your photographs?
The inclusion of human figures in my photographic works arose from the idea of adding a further narrative level to my works. The art historian Dr Annette Dorgerloh, HU Berlin, wrote in an exhibition brochure on my works in August 2022: ‘No less strong in form than the earlier photographs, these new works have an additional dimension that enriches the field in a light and seemingly cheerful way with historical images and experiences that are worth seeing and creatively preserving. At the same time, however, these figures are also criticised from today's perspective. They are all preoccupied with themselves, so they are just as unable to perceive their surroundings as the many people who only look at their smartphones while travelling. A closer look at the respective combinations of motifs shows that this new group of works always thematises the vulnerability and transience of nature itself.’ Visitors keep asking me about these figures in my photographic works. I find the incredible range of what viewers read from my work and what they interpret into it both extremely exciting and inspiring. This confirms the path I have taken by adding the figures. This also makes my photographic works recognisable.
Your work often challenges traditional perceptions through a complex interplay of focus and abstraction. How do you strategically use macro photography to manipulate viewer perceptions, and what do you hope they take away from experiencing your art?
The word macro photography already contains the small things that it is all about. To be able to perceive the small, you need to look closely. This means that you have to take time to look closely. This completely contradicts the way images are received today. We are surrounded by an almost unbelievable flood of images and impressions. Our reaction to this is to quickly look at them and then look away again. We brush aside what we have just seen. I find this development very regrettable. My photographic works stand in contrast to this. In order to grasp the complexity of the visual content, the viewer has to engage with it. This only works if the viewer allows the content of the image to sink in, and this requires time. I was told by visitors to the exhibition: ‘Your pictures have a meditative character. You can come to rest when you look at them. Each time you look at them, you can always discover something new. One can stand in front of your work for a long time.’ If I succeed in doing this with a large number of visitors, I am be delighted. Of course, I hope that this visual experience will also be transferred to the works of other artists. I also hope to awaken a desire to see. To make people want to take a closer look at things in their own immediate surroundings. If I succeed in doing this with even just a few viewers, a lot will have been gained.
As an artist who showcases work in both digital and physical spaces, how do you balance the intrinsic differences between these exhibition formats? What unique challenges and opportunities do you encounter when presenting your art in digital versus traditional gallery settings?
In my opinion, exhibiting art in both digital and physical spaces is justified. It is a relief for me as an artist if I can be represented with my work in an exhibition far away without having to send these works at great expense or travel there myself. This is a question of time and money. It is also essential to be present at exhibitions to answer questions, make new contacts and initiate sales talks. It is therefore a constant balancing act in my role as an artist. What is important to me and how, and what are my current financial possibilities. It is important to find out how to raise the profile of your own works, depending on the time, contacts and individual circumstances, which are known to be subject to constant change. The challenge is to select from the multitude of exhibition opportunities those that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, give my own work the best chance of being recognised and, in the best case, finding buyers. It never ceases to amaze me how much time the research work takes.
Looking to the future, are there particular themes or experimental techniques you are eager to investigate through your photography? How do you envision these explorations contributing to the evolution of your artistic narrative over the next decade?
It is important to me to continue expressing and visually processing current topics in my photographic work in the future. It will be content that which will be important at a later date. These topics lie in the future and are still unknown to me. I am excited and curious about tomorrow. As technology is developing rapidly, I will follow these developments closely and, if necessary, utilise opportunities in the future that are still unknown to me today. The basis of my further photographic development remains a close look. Both on the smallest detail and on the big picture, because, as we all know, the big picture is made up of many small details.
Considering your deep commitment to the photographic arts, what lasting impact do you aspire to have on the art community and broader society? How do you envision your legacy, and what messages do you hope will resonate through your works in the years to come?
Taking time to look at things is my concern. This applies both to the world of images and to the very real world around us. You can train your own perception and precise vision. Looking and scrutinising what you see - what am I actually seeing? What is real, what is not? What is my imagination telling me? I find these questions fascinating. That's my message: get involved with the picture in front of you! Get involved with what surrounds you! Try to block out everything around you and be completely in the here and now. Be completely with yourself. Sharpen your perception from this being. Engage with what you see. And let what you see sink in. It's wonderful when I succeed in doing this with one person or another through my photographic work.