"Ingrid"

on the photo Ingrid Bergman, portrait around 1945 (postcard, AKG-Images/Picturedesk.com)

photo emulsion, acrylic paint on wood

signed, titled and dated on verso

Ilse Haider's artistic interest lies in the forms of representation of man and woman as well as the play with gender-specific identity and role behaviour.
In her work Haider combines the medium of photography with that of sculpture. By using innovative methods alongside traditional photographic techniques, the artist achieves a three-dimensional effect that forces the viewer to become active and interact with the image. The uneven surface shows a deconstructed image, which encourages the viewer to look for an ideal point of view where the individual segments of the space reassemble to form a complete image. The carrier materials are rattan tubes, whereby the individual stripes are structured differently in space.
In her current works the artist deals with public images. She shows portraits of actors and filmmakers whose media activities are linked to the visualisation of political concerns and socio-political commitment. The films function as public monuments that convey a socio-cultural image and combine pictorial entertainment with social anamnesis. In today's times of media flood of images and political-social agony, such icons attain a degree of visual urgency that can be irritating and fascinating. For this reason Ilse Haider uses historical portraits to transfer themes and commitment of a media history into today's world. The viewer has to find his or her point of view in passing by and looking at these portraits and scenes. Far too quickly the motif blurs indistinctly behind the bars, something new emerges from the underground that is worth closer examination. The perception of Ilse Haider's photographic sculptures is - as in film - coupled to time and attention: the image is composed in the eye of the viewer and unfolds an individual significance in his consciousness, experiences and memories.
(Margit Zuckriegl)