Till Gerhard - 2009
'Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.' Albert Einstein
Like a battered heirloom passed from generation to generation the need for some sort of belief, the holding of a proposition or premise to be true (as opposed to knowledge) remains constant within human culture. Our focus may shift but the basic structure of belief, our need for magic, mystery and community in some form remains.
In the following collection of images Till Gerhard shows us a sequence of visual keys, mining the German Romanticism of Friedrich through Pantheism, Shamanism, and mass gatherings at music festivals in the US. He identifies a unifying visual code that links the present with the past.
However, our journey starts with the figure of the fool - the spirit in search of experience. The Fool represents the need for belief separated from reason, the ability to tune into the inner workings of the world and take action where the circumstances are unknown. Tills fool is shown walking off a cliff, seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice, apparently about to step off. Which leads us to the question; 'Is the Fool making a terrible mistake, or is he making a leap of faith?'
There are no answers here (or anywhere for that matter). It is a step we must all make and continue to make or otherwise join the legions of the walking dead...
This is book four in the Decathlon series. Decathlon Books is a collaborative publishing project initiated with photographer and film maker Peter Sutherland - together we work as the editors, curators and designers for the series.
Like all the Decathlon books this is printed in Queens on a web press. Everything is intentionally stripped down to the simplest (cheapest) form - with a 2 color cover and the interior printed in black and white on green newsprint / 8.5’ x 11’ / 68 pages.
2009 / america / art / book design / decathalon / new york / newsprint / peter sutherland /
