scattered across a pitch of green.  The patterns that emerge in these views are most often a straightforward documentation of reality.  But sometimes the artist creates his own patterns by stacking images as in Untitled, (Office) Dusseldorf.  Here the work bears a tangential resemblance to Donald Judd’s esthetic; there is a manufactured precision to it.  A closer look reveals that each row is a series of doors from which Gefeller has created a subtle surrealism.  In effect we see 11 interior floors of an office building compressed into a single image that creates its own comprehensive visual effect.  Initially the repeated stacked images appear to be the same until you realize there are subtle differences. The overall effect creates a quality of visual rhythm.

Andreas Gefeller, Untitled (Stadium), Dusseldorf, 2002, color photograph 66.9 X 87.4 in

The content for this work involves a curious and clever mix of photographic documentation which totals to an abstract experience.  But this is managed in such a way that the realism and the abstraction are evident without conflict.  So on one hand, a photograph like Untitled (Stadium), Dusseldorf documents an abandoned arena.  But from an overhead perspective Gefeller offers a compelling abstract image of patterned order that is compromised due to the missing seats.  From both a figurative and abstract sense the image expresses the same thing: a break down of order, neglect and an accompanying whiff of melancholy abandonment.  Although the latter could be captured in a 

Andreas Gefeller, Untitled (Driving Range), Hong Kong, 2004, color photograph, 66.9 X 90.6 in

more conventional photograph or even in an abstract painting Gefeller gets far more impact by combining both sensibilities. From afar a piece like Untitled (Chicken Raising), Nordhorn seems a meditative reflection on tightly woven repeating patterns  the visual equivalent of a Steven Reich piece of music.  But closer up you see that it really is an image of small chicks being raised.  The realization generates a variety of reactions beginning with the sheer gentle beauty of the image, then humor at discovering what really comprises the subject matter and finally a parallel sadness that this is mass-production poultry enterprise and what that means for the birds.

Andreas Gefeller, Untitled (Office), Dusseldorf, 2005, color photograph, 63 X 95.5 in