• Werner Bartsch Desert Birds
  • Werner Bartsch Desert Birds
  • Werner Bartsch Desert Birds
  • Werner Bartsch Desert Birds
  • Werner Bartsch Desert Birds
  • Werner Bartsch Desert Birds

Werner Bartsch Desert Birds

A cockpit faces into an endless desert landscape; a gangway stands in themiddle of an abandoned expanse, points at the sky and appears to wait for planes that no longer fly, for passengers that no longer arrive. At the vast aircraft storage grounds in the middle of the desert in southwestern USA, hundreds of discarded aircrafts stand in waiting and contemplate their fate. Deprived of theirmobility and functionality, the discarded planes are reduced to their basic form. In the gleaming light of the burning desert sun, on white sand and against a backdrop of brightblue sky, the aerodynamic shapes and elegant curves shine with an unreal brilliance. In the sleek wings and abstract silhouettes, which stand out in the bright glow of the moon and under the clear, starry sky, the futuristic expressiveness of these aircraft becomes apparent one more time. Like imposing metal sculptures, they submit to their rough surroundings, becoming unintentionalworks of art placed in no-man's land. In its expansiveness and simplicity, the arid desert functions as a minimalist backdrop against which the grace and beauty of the Desert Birds are made fully evident. Normally strictly isolated from the outside world, the storage grounds opened their gates for this project. In his impressive images we find ancient specimen of the worlds best known transport aircraft Dakota as well as retired airliners like the Boeing Stratocruiser and even the VC-121A Constellation,once President Eisenhower's Air Force One, built in 1948. These photographs are not inventories of discarded airplanes, not documentaries of storage yards and airplane graveyards; they are a tribute to countless hours in the air and long journeys, to the pioneer spirit and human imagination. Werner Bartsch (*1965) studied communication design / photography. After his studies he lived between New York and Berlin and settled as a freelance photographer in Hamburg in 1996. He is a member of BFF, the German Association of Freelance Photo Designers, and works on assignment for major German and international publications and agencies. His art projects have led him to the various regions of the world.

Hardcover 30 x 23 cm 112 pages 50 color illustrations English, German Available ISBN 978-3-86828-179-8 2010

Artist:

Werner Bartsch

Texts:

Werner Bartsch, Sophia Greiff

Exhibitions

Galerie Flo Peters, Hamburg
01.02. – 28.02.2011

Galerie Schuster, Berlin
10.06. – 31.07.2011

Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA), Berlin
11. – 16.09.2012

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