German fashion photographer Daniel Sannwald is not content to make just pretty photographs. Instead, he wants to make images that challenge and experiment with the medium of photography, blurring one’s perception of what constitutes fashion or art. For the first time, his groundbreaking work has been collected in a blindingly brilliant artist’s book, “Spektrum”, published by Hatje Cantz. Every page is a visual explosion of startling contrasts and outrageous colour.
Currently based in London, Sannwald grew up in Munich and studied art photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. A vibrant use of colour is at the heart of his practice, and he boldly combines this with glitchy video aesthetics – the kind borrowed from nineties’ music videos and the video games he used to play as a teenager. His approach to working is spontaneous, varied and hands-on: he bounces between analogue and digital photography, employing a multitude of equipment from old-school flip phones to cutting-edge HD cameras and 3D scanners, taking inspiration from hyper-realism and science fiction. Sannwald compares his method to Andy Warhol’s Factory – a laboratory of impromptu artistic mischief where astonishing art works are frequently the result of happenstance and experimentation. The outcome is a highly innovative approach to fashion photography, one which manipulates and distorts the commonplace.
Arguably, Sannwald is best known for his album artwork; he’s responsible for the cover of Kelela’s “Take Me Apart” and “Hallucinogen” and M.I.A.’s “Matangi”, as well as artistic and video projects with Rihanna and Arca. His work has also appeared in all of the usual places — Dazed and Confused, i-D, 032c, Vogue — and it’s no wonder. His bold approach to both technique and colour makes for images that are always eye-catching, whether they’re splashed on the cover of an album or adorning the pages of a glossy mag.
It’s this undeniable allure that makes Sannwald’s first monograph, “Spektrum”, impossible to put down. “Spektrum” exhibits the photographer’s bold work across 128 large-format pages in a multi-coloured and illuminating study of an artist who privileges curiosity above all else. These eye-catching and fantastical images are truly at home in the large format edition. His innovation and influence on modern photography aside, Sannwald’s “Spektrum” is also just an extremely satisfying visual treat.
Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy here.
