Bernd Preiml’s Exquisite Apparitions
by Jessica joslin

COILHOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 04




Bernd Preiml’s photographs describe a world filled with magic and mystery, often coupled with a disconcerting sense that sinister forces may be lurking. Growing up in the mountainous countryside outside of Vienna, he seems to have internalized some of the quiet inscrutability of the snow-shrouded mountains and trees. As a boy, he was struck by the rich colors and lush pageantry of Catholicism, set against the wildness of nature. He recalls festive processions in traditional costumes and folk tales about ancient creatures and wild people who inhabited the forests.


Many of his subjects are hauntingly lovely, yet there is a sense of intensity, whether manic or melancholy, hovering around the eyes and below the skin. This is not the type of beauty that sits prettily on the surface of a face, obscuring what lies beneath. His characters engage the viewer with a disturbing, sometimes mesmerizing force. Although Preiml’s work often appears in the context of fashion magazine editorials, he uses the viewer’s presumptions to create confusion. He embraces the idea of creating something entirely unexpected, something poignant, strange, or delightful, hiding amidst the frivolity. He understands that beauty isn’t interesting unless it is somehow soiled, unless it is complex.

His recent forays into video are an elegant extension of his photographic work. In his video for Bourne, The Painting, he tells a tale suffused with such love and longing that it feels like the equivalent of a Victorian Memento Mori, woven from intricately braided locks of hair. This sense of melancholy romanticism serves as a perfect foil for the lingering threat of violence that often seems to accompany his images. Through all of his deliciously rich visual narratives, he explores memories and desires, as if seen through the poetic fragmentation of a dream.

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College für Fotografie Leyserstraße / Wien
2 Jahre Fotoassistenz in London im Modebereich
(Dazed and Confused/Tank/British Vogue etc...)
seit 1999 diverse freie Serien Editorials und Werbung (Schwerpunkt Mode)

Editorials:
u.a. im Spex,Qvest,The All Season Fashionpaper, Rosebudagazine,Indie,Yifei
Vision,Rondo,X Ray,Booklet,My Magazine, Copy, Park Avenue, Drome
Magazine, Hint Magazine, Style, BAK Magazine

Werbung:
u.a. für: Fm4,Bank Austria,Erste Bank,A1,Mobilkom,
T- Mobile, Orbit, Schauspielhaus, P2,Ute Ploier, Florian Ladstätter

Diverse Videoinstallationen für Ute Ploier unter anderem
MAK/Louvre/Hyeres...
Visuals für die Neuinszenierung des "Freischütz" in der Wiener
Volksoper (2007) (gemeinsam mit Georg Eckmayr und Lilli Dix)
seit 2008 diverse Musikvideos (ua für Bourne und Julia)
div Werberegiearbeiten (ua Mobilkom Austria)