With Ciel Lourd and Boy on Safari, Gregor Toerzs has made two photo series in which pictures of a fantasy world form unique symbioses with the seen reality. Works produced with a lot of effort and patience, as well as the singularity of their visual imagery characterize Toerzs as a master in his field already. It is with great pleasure that Galerie Zur Stockeregg, for the first time in Switzerland, presents his works in a solo exhibition.

Gregor Toerzs, born in 1970 in Hamburg Germany, was introduced to photography circuitously. Only twenty years old, after leaving high school early, he was drawn to Los Angeles, where he learned the film craft from Academy Award winning special effect experts John Dykstra and Dough Smith; later he worked as a lighting technician and a cinematographer. His life took an interesting turn, though, when he decided to step from behind the camera and into its frontal space. Since then he has worked as an actor in several movie and TV productions, though he has never stopped working as a cameraman, either. His aesthetics, which are shaped by his cinematographic work, have also influenced his latest field of activity: art photography.

Toerzs is not a man who lets himself be held back by obstacles. For his latest photo series Ciel Lourd, Toerzs literally immersed himself in work and went diving for a year. Equipped with a sixty years old photo camera and a waterproofed case especially constructed for it, the artist spent around 250 hours under water in order to capture the mystical beauty of the depths of the Red Sea. Furthermore, with the vision to create works inspired by dream images, Toerzs took so called matte paintings – motivic imprinted glass panels – with him on his dives, which merged with the submarine surroundings into fanciful sights. Therefore, in the exhibition, it is possible to come across enchanted portals or even airplanes, both circled by delicately gleaming swarms of fish. Even when Toerzs refraines from manipulating the underwater world and simply reproduces it, one cannot help but wonder: Am I really confronted with the realm of Neptune? Or does the image rather show a picturesque scenery, crowned by an atmospheric, heavy sky – a ciel lourd?

While the series Ciel Lourd brings out the dreamer within the artist, the series Boy on Safari unveils him as a playful trickster. By skilfully choosing the frame and consciously keeping the scenery dark, Toerzs achieves the illusion that the viewer is situated in the midst of a wild flora and fauna. Only after a second look the truth is revealed. It is also striking how, in his works, Toerzs handles lighting: Instead of illuminating the motives by artificial light sources, he confines himself to documenting the actual lighting conditions. The playful handling of illusion and reality, the constant fathoming and casual manipulation of the visual reality are the charms of this wilful oeuvre and pay tribute to Toerzs' extraordinary skills.

Zurich, June 2009

Illustrated books on both series are available in the gallery.