Artist Eva Schlegel Abstracts Interiors in Photographs

Photographing interiors has interested Austrian artist Eva Schlegel for the last three years, but her approach is not that of a documentarian. As seen in “Imaginary Spaces,” at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna, she instead blurs spaces almost to the point of abstraction. Her large-scale photographs show her attention to light and form, as well as her intention to subvert identification. Glimpses of hallways, walls, and portals acknowledge the representation of spaces, but a photographic blur makes them unrecognizable. “What is important is that the images are working as abstract spaces,” Schlegel writes. Instead, a painterly perception deconstructs standard views and light becomes the defining characteristic. Shadows craft enigmatic forms, while corners and doorways configure geometric outlines. Over 6 feet tall, the images open different views of space and atmosphere. “Sometimes it is not clear where a space begins or ends,” she writes.

The photographic project began when Schlegel was commissioned to portray a Buenos Aires museum for Vienna-based architecture firm Querkraft. She spent a week exploring viewpoints. Shown the resulting images, the architects didn’t recognize the building’s spaces. The artist took that as the greatest compliment possible, because it proved her approach defied confinement.