The Siegen-based fine art photographer Marc Baruth wins the 22nd PIP Excellent International Work Award at the Pingyao International Photography Festival
Pingyao/Siegen. The Siegen-based fine art photographer Marc Baruth wins the 22nd PIP Excellent International Work Award at the Pingyao International Photography Festival. This year Irina Chmyreva was awarded as best international curator and besides Marc Baruth two other photographers, John Demos from Greece and Yana Pirozhok from Russia, were honored with the trophy coveted in China.
In addition to Marc Baruth, the exhibition Creating Land or in German Land - Schaffen, curated by Thomas Kellner, also includes work by Martin Schäpers from Siegen, Helen Sears from Great Britain, Alfredo de Stefano from Mexico, Ellen Jantzen from USA and Peter Hölzle from Stuttgart.
Thomas Kellner had shown the exhibition with a smaller selection of the pictures in the Artgalerie Siegen this summer from June to August. The exhibition, which is well worth seeing, brings together very individual artistic approaches to landscape photography. From painterly positions reminiscent of Gerhard Richter in Ellen Jantzen, the Ansel Adams reflecting mountain shots of Peter Hölzle or the painterly scriptoral forest images of Helen Sears. Marc Baruth won over the jury with his Prodigal Son series, in which he reformulates Peter Paul Rubens' landscape paintings in modern photomontages and brings them closer to us in a zeitgeisty way. Fine art photographer Alfredo de Stefano even has a solo exhibition curated by Alasdair Foster in China. Martin Schäpers from Siegen joined the exhibition in China with his river pictures of a tree and forest scene. His finely colored photographs in which the landscape changes seasonally from motif to motif lead the viewer into a moment of contemplation that we are probably all familiar with.
Thomas Kellner has been unselfishly curating projects for Siegen, the region and far beyond for many years. In his former studio in Friedrichstraße he showed hundreds of artistic positions from all continents. Among his projects, which still take place today, are the Rundgang at the University of Siegen, the Brauhausfotografie of the University of Siegen and the Siegen Art Summer. Since an encounter in the twin city of Deyang in 2006 and the first contact with the festival in Pingyao in 2009, he regularly curates successful exhibitions in the city of Pingyao, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But also in other cities in China, such as Hefei, Shenyang or Liaoning. Kellner likes to describe his travels to other countries and cultures as a broadening of horizons and tolerance training. Traveling to other cultures teaches one to have respect and regard for others, to remain curious but also cautious. Kellner has had many friendships with China for over 15 years now.
The winners of his previous exhibitions were: Daniel Schumann (2010) with his solo exhibition, Dirk Hanus (2014) in the exhibition Contemporary German Photography, Claudia Fährenkemper (2016) with her solo exhibition Armor, which the Artgalerie also showed in the IHK Gallery in Siegen, Elaine Duigenan (2018) in the exhibition Photo Trouvée, which was also shown in the Siegen Artgalerie, and now Marc Baruth (2022) in the exhibition Land - Schaffen.
Marc Baruth Winner of the PIP International Award 2022
Event details for the Pingyao International Photography Festival PIP 2022
Creating land
September 19–26, 2022
Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, Peoples Republic of China
Exhibiting artists: Marc Josef Baruth, Alfredo de Stefano, Peter Hölzle, Ellen Jantzen, Helen Sear und Martin Schäpers
Curator: Thomas Kellner
