In spring 2014 artist Elger Esser was interviewed by Skidmore College students Gabby Carboni ’14 and Julia Marani ’14 about his work in the exhibition One Work, 2014.
This interview was part of a series of interviews with artists in One Work organized and conducted by Skidmore students in the Art History course AH-351A. The series was supported by The Alfred Z. Solomon Residency Fund.
Elger Esser’s elegiac photographs depict landscapes that seem at once recognizable and foreign. Subdued and often minimalist in composition, Esser’s works explore the mysterious responses that landscapes can stir in us. Born in Germany, travel is an essential component of Esser’s work and his photographs capture villages, wharfs, countrysides, coast lines, sea cliffs, and other vistas across Europe, the United States, and Egypt.
In addition to his on-site work with a large-format camera, Esser also creates photographs from his own vintage-postcard collection, enlarging sections to such a scale that the grain of the original printed postcard becomes clearly visible. Postcards of the landscape merge travel and adventure with emotional resonance and memory, a potent mixture that has fascinated Esser since childhood.
