top of page

SONJA BRAAS

About the Artist

The visual aesthetic of Sonja Braas (born 1968, Siegen) is one of dazzling paradox. Viewers see clearly recognisable natural phenomena and forces, such as icy alpine regions, thundering avalanches, tempestuous surf, or urban centres and cities flooded or in flames. Yet nature’s essence seems alienated. The images look artificial, for they are only partially based on actual nature and landscape photographs. Many of the images are of models built by the artist, lending them a characteristically uncanny atmosphere. While Romantic painting assigns the viewer a fixed viewpoint, generally represented by a figure in the picture, from which he or she can perceive the sublimity behind the terror of nature from a safe distance, Braas rejects any foothold whatsoever. Only the disembodied camera seems immersed in the events taking place in the photographs.

Artist CV

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

​

2016

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

​

2013

· Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2012

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

​

2011

· TH 13, Bern, Switzerland

​

2010

· Kunsthalle Göppingen, Germany

​

2009

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2007

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2006

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Galerie Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

​

2005

· Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Germany

· Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2004

· Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany

· Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany

​

2003

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Holland

· Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

· Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

​

2001

· Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne, Germany

· La Filature, Mulhouse, France

· Goethe Institut, Paris, France

· Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt, Germany

· Gallery Windows, Bruxelles, Belgium

· Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

​

2000

· Gallery Bill Maynes, NewYork, USA

· Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Holland

· Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

 

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

​

2018

· Eve, Amar Gallery, London, UK

​

2017

· You want truth or beauty?,  Kunsthalle im Kunsthaus Nexus, Saalfelden, Germany

· Bewegung im Bild, Die informelle Malerei trifft auf die Geste in der Fotografie, Maerkisches Museum, Witten, Germany

​

2016

· Beauty and the Beast, The Animal in Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA

· Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography,

Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, Londom, UK

​

2015

· Climats artificiels, Espace Fondation EDF, Paris, France

· The Mirror Of Illusions, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Take One: Contemporary Photographs, Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia

· Imagine Reality, Ray 2015, Frankfurt, Germany

· Landscape on my Mind, Landscape photography today Hamish Fulton to Andreas Gursky, Kunstforum Vienna, Austria

· Über Wasser, Malerei und Photographie von William Turner bis Olafuer Eliasson,Bucerius Kunstforum, Hamburg, Germany

· Human Nature, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, NRW Forum Düsseldorf, Germany

​

2014

· Fürs All Genug, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany

Human Nature, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Deutsche Börse Group, Eschborn, Germany

· Wunderkammer, F&C Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2013

· No Place like Home, Kunsthalle HGN, Duderstadt, Germany

​

2012

· Collectors of Skies, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA

· Ground Control, Jahresmuseum im Kunsthaus Muerz, Austria

· Photographieren, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany

· Landscapes, Fabian & Claude Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

· Elsewhere on the Meuse, Venlo, Netherlands

· Für Hund und Katz ist auch noch Platz, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany

· Home, Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, Germany

​

2011

· Surveyor, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, USA

· People and the City, Winzavod Centre for Contemporary Art, Russia

​

2010

· The BMW – Paris Photo Prize, Paris Photo, France

· Bumpy Ride, Fotografia Roma 2010, Rom, Italy

· Elsewhere, Idyll and Friction in the Landscape, Sint- Michielsgestel, Netherlands

​

2009

· Manipulating Reality, How Images Redefine The World, Strozzina ccc, centro di cultura contemporanea a palazzo strozzi, Florence, Italy

· Indagaciones y Myradas, tenerife espacio de las artes, Tenerife, Spain

· Hängung # 5, Deutsche Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung

Alison & Peter Klein, Kunstwerk, Eberdingen-Nussdorf, Germany,

summer group show, fiedler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

· Ferne Nähe, ‚Nature’ in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany

· Expedition Polaris, Haugar Art Museum, Tønsberg, Norway

· Trouble in Paradise, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, USA

· The Best of Photography, Galerie Fabian& Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2008

· Review, fiedler Contemporary, cologne, Germany

· Freakish Nature, Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

· Einblick, Mönchehaus Museum Gosslar

· Die Landschaft jenseits der Romantik, Gallery Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany

​

2007

· Vraisemblances, Gallery Xippas, Paris, France

· In den Alpen, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland

· White Out, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn& Taxis, Bregenz, Switzerland

· Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany

· Überblick: Konstruktionen der Wahrheit, Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie 2007, Darmstadt, Germany

​

2006

· Gletscherdämmerung, Eres Stiftung, Munich, Germany

· Fai da te. Il Mondo dell’Artista, Centro D’Arte e Cultura San Paolo Esposizioni, Modena, Italy

· I may be sometime, James Nicholson Gallery, New York, USA

· 20 years Gallery Fabian & Claude Walter,Galerie Fabian & Claude Walter, Zurich, Switzerland

​

2005

· Ideal Worlds – New Romanticism in Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Schirrn,Frankfurt, Germany

· Hoch Hinaus, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland

· Munch Revisited, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, Germany

· Strömungen, Gallery Wäcker & Jordanow, Munich, Germany

· Perspective Contemporaine, Gallery Vedovi, Bruxelles, Belgium

· On the right Slope, Gallery Anne Barrault, Paris, France

· Gezähmte Natur, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlung, Cottbus, Germany

​

2004

· A Traveller, Gallery Akinci, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Waves II - Tribute and Degressions, Musée Malraux, Le Havre, France

· Natur ganz Kunst, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany

· Photography XL II, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Frankfurt, Germany

· Contemporary Art from Germany, ECB, Frankfurt, Germany

Landscapes, Special Exhibition, Art Cologne, Germany

· Gezähmte Natur, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlung, Cottbus, Germany

​

2003

· Wonderlands, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, Germany

· In Nature, From the Obsessive to the Blind, X Photography Biennale, Turin, Italy

· Nicholson Gallery, San Francisco, USA

· Ordnung und Chaos, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland

​

2002

· Better Than the Real Thing, Smart Projects, Amsterdam, Netherands

· Saar Ferngas Preis, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany

· True Fictions, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Kunstverein, Germany

· Lingen, Kunst Haus Dresden, Kunstverein Bad Arolsen, Germany

​

2002

· Between Construct and Reality - Landscape in Contemporary Photography, Suermondt LudwigMuseum, Aachen, Germany

· Franciscus,Kunstenaars brengen een ode, Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Netherlands

​

2001

· The Promise of Photography, The Collection of the DG-Bank, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany

· Wild Gliders, Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Amsterdam, Netherlands

· Utopien heute, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany

Gallery Bernier/ Eliades, Athens, Greece

​

2000

· Landscape in Contemporary Photography, Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Germany

​

1999

· La Filature, Mulhouse, France

· Landesmedienzentrale, Hamburg, Germany

​

1998

· Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany

· European Photography Contest, Vevey, Switzerland

· Kodak Nachwuchsförderung (young talent), Cologne, Germany

· Zeche Eins, Essen, Germany

​

1997

· Galerie Energy, Dortmund, Germany

​

1996

· Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, Germany

​

1993

· Galerie der Neuen Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany

​

​

GRANTS / AWARDS

​

2016

· Prix Pictet Nomination

​

1999

· DG Bank Art Grant

​

1998

· Otto Steinert Preis, Honorable Mentioning

· Images 98, Grand Prix de la Ville de Vevey

​

1997

· Rheinhard Wolf Prize

· Kodak Prize for Young Artists

​

1996

· Fulbright Grant

· DAAD Grant (German Academic Exchange Service)

 

 

 

WORK IN COLLECTIONS (Selection)

​

Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg; Collection Hans Grothe, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg; DZ Bank; Deutsche Bank; Deutsche Börse AG, EZB, Frankfurt; Münchner Rück, Munch; EON AG, Düsseldorf; Westdeutsche Landesbank, Düsseldorf; Collection Alison & Peter Klein, Eberdingen- Nussdorf, KMS Fine Art Group

Private Collections in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Zurich, Hong Kong, Seoul

Enquire
  • @theamargallery

Copyright © 2024 Amar Singh. All Rights Reserved.

bottom of page