Candida Hofer

Candida Hofer

Her sustained examination of the architectural and perceptual order of public interiors- the orderly arrangement of space swept clean, absent of its implied inhabitants. Hofer's primary interest lay not in landscape or architecture, but in space- not necessarily in the function of a public building or a particular interior, but in the space itself, which could have a physical/ social presence of its own.
She seems to prefer her spaces to be uncomplicated by the unpredictability of people moving through her strict composed frame. She does not feel that her spaces are empty but that they are highlighted and animated by light, form, pattern and references to the human presence. The individual and the collective _empty chairs, that are a sign of the absent, but yet these motifs create engagement with the pictures and make one want to find out more. From the clear, sharp compositions, Hofer's images can let ones eye wander easily around the picture.

 
 DHFK Leipzig IV, 1991, 38 x 57.

Museo Civico Vicenza II, 1988, 38 x 57.

Colour theory defines white as the absence of all colour. Hofer chooses to let white define a lot of her compositions, from the most subtle contrasts illuminating architectural detail or refining perception of the space, to the motifs highlighted by emphasizing repetitive forms.


The overwhelming effect is that of being tonally pale, suffused with light. Usually white dominates more or less than half of the composition, balanced by the darkness of the contrasting area, which is often lightened by reflection.