So far, I had mainly known Olivier Sieber's work from an Internet point of view, for instance through the Bohm/Kobayashi website, an independent publishing project Sieber co-founded with fellow artist Katja Stuke. In a few weeks time, however, I got the opportunity to have a look at several Bohm/Kobayashi books, two of them striking me as outstanding achievements: J_Subs, and Imaginary Club 2. Both are exquisitely printed, and elegantly designed. Full page illustrations, with vibrant yet cold colors, are the most beautiful I’ve seen in a while.In his Imaginary Club series, Oliver Sieber focuses on people in search for their identity - and I would precise visual identity – whether they are punks, gothic or cosplayers among other marginal groups. The photographer has visited concerts and clubs (hence the title), places where he could find those extraordinary faces. The portraits are shot in a rather traditional composition, that could remind of Italian Renaissance portraits.
The same spirit goes on in J_Subs, though exclusively focused on Japanese characters, punks, rockabillys and psychobillys. The exploration of specific and marginal subcultures once again serves as an opportunity to engage into a visual investigation of contemporary identity.
