André Lichtenberg
Dreamed Realities
From the series Impossible Utopia
Indian Summer Memories, 2023
Indian Summer Memories, 2023
Dreamed RealitiesIn art, "seeing" is the act of experiencing, perceiving, and interpreting context and meaning. It moves beyond merely looking — it is a deeper process that evokes emotion, memory, and insight. Through five poetic and dreamlike photographic projects, André invites us to "see" the world anew, exploring themes of time, memory and emotion with a contemplative and lyrical gaze. Dreamed Realities is a retrospective showcase presenting a significant selection of André’s work to date. Rather than focusing solely on recent creations, it offers a comprehensive view of his artistic journey. From large-scale moonlit landscapes to intimate window views and study installations, it opens a space for reflection — a pause amid the noise of contemporary life. Presented alongside the series, Gold Circle is proud to feature a discerning and insightful commentary on the work by Brazilian art curator, Daniele Queiroz. |
From the series Personal Topographies
Pacific Clouds, 2019
Pacific Clouds, 2019
From the series Impossible Utopia
December Moon, 2024
December Moon, 2024
Moon Tide diptych
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Utopia is there on the horizon.
I take two steps closer, it takes two steps away. I walk ten steps and the horizon moves ten steps away. No matter how much I walk, I will never reach it. What is utopia for? It is there for the simple reason that I don't stop walking. Eduardo Galeano The word utopia comes from the Greek, from the juxtaposition of the negation prefix (οὐ) with the word place (τόπος). According to its etymology, we can consider utopia as a non-place, a place that does not exist. However, if we ask Galeano's poem what utopia is for, it gives us a trigger for movement, walking and, ultimately, faith. Not necessarily religious faith, but the belief that it is possible to imagine and inhabit other worlds, with more communion and respect between people and their cultures. It is this belief in imagination that supports André Lichtenberg in Realidades Sonhadas, the title of his solo exhibition at Galeria Bolsa de Arte, in São Paulo.
Lichtenberg is an artist who believes in the power of dreams, of journeys and of utopia. Born in Porto Alegre, the artist currently lives in the United Kingdom. A descendant of a European family, migration is at the core of his family, who came to Brazil from Germany and Austria. Years later, the artist would become a “modern immigrant” himself when he decided to return to the European continent. Lichtenberg recalls that his father liked to draw landscapes, which would influence the way his son would come to look at photography. In the same way, it was his father’s poetic gaze at the full moon that taught the artist to look at the night, to dream and to value time. |
From the series Impossible Utopia
Kingsway, 2017
Kingsway, 2017
From the series Personal Topographies
Red Moon Eclipse, 2023
Red Moon Eclipse, 2023
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In the series Impossible Utopias, Lichtenberg turns his gaze to the English Channel that separates the United Kingdom and Europe during Brexit. During full moon nights, the artist produced images of the coastline, extending time through long periods of camera exposure. In both Impossible Utopias and the Full Moon series, the night is no longer visible in the image, but time becomes present through the movement of the waters and stars, in addition to the construction of layers of color and reflection that place us in a meditative state. What do these waters tell us? What is the time and stories presented in these images? We are in a time of uncertainty and dreams. Lichtenberg reflects on crossings, not only those that took place decades ago, but especially those that are currently taking place, forced migration movements and violent notions of borders and boundaries. By looking at the sea, the artist places himself - and us - in a state of nostalgia and meditation.
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From the series Impossible Utopia
Tale of Two Moons,2024
Tale of Two Moons,2024
Realidades Sonhadas (Dreamed Realities) exhibition view at Galeria Bolsa de Arte in Sao Paulo.
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Nostalgia permeates his work. His photographs, constructed from the union of several images in a variety of details, contain at the same time a scientific and dreamy character, as in the Personal Topographies series. Lichtenberg, who studied engineering, photography and arts, flirts with the technicality of the camera that allows him to work in large dimensions without losing quality, while maintaining the poetic and subjective character of his horizons and cities. In Window Series, the artist photographs the window of his children's room over the course of six years, once again investigating the notion of edges and the boundary between dreams and reality. The window, like the camera lens, is the limit that proposes other landscapes and possibilities, even if hidden in the everyday, in the “banal”. This supposed banality is in fact charged with strangeness, inviting the viewer to stop and reflect, hopefully slowing down from their own hurried modern life. The opportunity to distract oneself within the images operates as a mechanism of pause and invitation to commune not only with the artist, but with a slow, paused time; time for things that remain, even if slightly different: the sunrise, the arrival of the moon, the changing landscape during the seasons. It is a paradise that can exist in the ordinary of things and in the collective of people - a present utopia, even if unattainable.
Daniele Queiroz, June 2025. |
From Window Series
Window 20-01 - Two cars Y
Window 20-01 - Two cars Y
Window Series installation piece
From Window Series
Window 19-12 - Pink
Window 19-12 - Pink
Bio
André Lichtenberg (b.1964) is a German-Brazilian artist based in the UK, whose work explores the intersection of photography with other art forms such as painting, collage, and drawing. In an era defined by the overproduction and consumption of digital imagery, Lichtenberg explores how memory can be translated into physical objects. His practice merges a highly technical yet experimental approach to image-making that blends art and science.
His large-scale artworks, such as the Within Series, take weeks to construct and often include subtle references to his own childhood memories. Since growing up in Brazil, Lichtenberg has had a strong interest in architectonic drawings and imaginative visual representations of cities and landscapes. His work has been exhibited in museums and private galleries worldwide, including the Barbican Centre, London in 1998, Centre Pompidou/IRCAM, Paris in 2015/16 and Fabrica, Brighton in 2018 – with artworks included in numerous international art collections such as the NHS Trust UK and the prestigious Joseph Cohen Family Collection in NY.
His large-scale artworks, such as the Within Series, take weeks to construct and often include subtle references to his own childhood memories. Since growing up in Brazil, Lichtenberg has had a strong interest in architectonic drawings and imaginative visual representations of cities and landscapes. His work has been exhibited in museums and private galleries worldwide, including the Barbican Centre, London in 1998, Centre Pompidou/IRCAM, Paris in 2015/16 and Fabrica, Brighton in 2018 – with artworks included in numerous international art collections such as the NHS Trust UK and the prestigious Joseph Cohen Family Collection in NY.