Virgil Catherine Gallery presents its newest art exhibition entitled C/Overt Observations. The exhibition features creations by art, fashion and celebrity photographer-Udo Spreitzenbarth. The exhibition has made its debut and will run through Saturday, April 16. The gallery is at 45 S. Washington St. in Hinsdale, IL. The artwork on display is also available for purchase. The exhibition is available Tuesday-Saturday from 11am to 3pm. If you are interested in viewing outside of the available hours or would like to schedule an appointment, please email Director Catherine Ponakala at Catherine@virgilcatherine.com or visit www.virgilcatherinegallery.com for more information.
The exhibition also features artwork by Guy Stanley Philoche, Greggory St. Amand, Ramona Nordal, Larry Stewart, Christon Anderson and Patricia Dolan.
While many works will be on display, the following are key works that will have emphasis during the exhibition: Lili Marleen (2021) and Voodoo Child (2021) by Udo Spreitzenbarth, Tiffany Bull (2022) by Larry Stewart, Andy Warhol (2022) by Ramona Nordal, Bronx Bomber (2022) by Greggory St. Amand, and a work from Philoche’s Paper Airplane series (2021).
About Udo Spreitzenbarth
Udo Spreitzenbarth’s photography has been published on national and international covers including Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire and many others. His work has been on display in solo exhibitions around the world, including New York, Berlin, Shanghai, Beijing, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
His photography has captured the expressions of many celebrities including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Meg Ryan, Salma Hayek, John Legend, The Jonas Brothers, Tyra Banks, The Beach Boys, and Usain Bolt among others. He also photographed legendary artists Christo, Richard Meyer and Helmut Newton.
Throughout his career, Udo has been inspired by Baroque painter Caravaggio and classic Hollywood Film Noir. He uses light and shadow to dramatize the scene and create tension; he captures specific moments that gives observers the opportunity to view the photographed subjects for who they really are, revealing something vital about their characteristics and expressions.
Arts Appreciation
I sincerely appreciate Udo Spreitzenbarth as an artist, and I enjoy observing his creations. One thing that I find particularly exceptional is Udo’s ability to tell stories through photography. I also appreciate his versatility; he can create art with a variety of subjects. Sometimes the emphasis will be placed on jewelry or high fashion, in other works an assortment of angles, shadows and light are used to express ideas through digital photography. Udo possesses tremendous talent that he uses to capture the essence of his subjects.
Udo Spreitzenbarth Interview
Dominic Richardson: What was the inspiration behind the creation of C/Overt Observations?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: The inspiration behind it.I was a part of a group exhibition. I was the lead artist. The inspiration came in conversations between me, the gallery owner and a couple of other artists. And “covert” the “c” can be in or out, it can be “covert “ or “overt,” so it’s kind of like a word play a little bit.
Dominic Richardson: You also mentioned that there are other artists that are going to be on showcase. How did you select the other artists out of interest? Was there something specific you were looking for?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: It was actually together with the gallery. It was a good mix of other photography artists and some painters of different styles. And they all basically submitted works that went along with the theme.
Dominic Richardson: When you talk about different pieces that go along with the theme, I know for sure that there are two of your works that are kind of like signature pieces. The first I wanted to ask you about was the Lili Marleen piece. What was your creative approach in creating that image?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: Lili Marleen is an homage to Marlene Dietrich, the 1940s Hollywood actress, first a German actress and then later she moved to America and became a big Hollywood star, actress and singer. And she had this really groundbreaking, very iconic song called “For you, Lili Marleen.” I wanted to, like in a lot of my works, try to take something modern and current and kind of translate it into something timeless that could have been done in the forties. Old Hollywood always fascinates me. Film Noir is something that’s really inspirational to me. And take that with a twist and translate it into our time. In my opinion, nowadays, so much gets produced that’s very short lived and very, kind of a social media type of work like posts and things that are like gone tomorrow or like fads and fashions that are here. And then they’re gone the next day. The hair has to be green one month, and the next month everybody has to have purple hair and green is completely out. So, to counteract that kind of fast recycling pace of culture and art, I tried in my photography to capture the essence of the person and do something current and edgy, but also with a twist that could be a very timeless piece as well. But without kind of copying exactly what was done back then, it obviously has to have a twist of the now.
Dominic Richardson: That brings us to Voodoo Child. What was the creative approach behind that image? Is it inspired by the Electric Ladyland songs from Jimi Hendrix?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: Yes, definitely so. When I was doing the shoot and I saw her, I saw her with this very artistic outfit and with a different kind of animal print patterns. And then it looked like kind of sixties, seventies, rock and roll to me. And then also the way she was moving in that particular picture, I really felt like I’m getting something very unusual here. It’s not a typical model pose where she tries to look tall and beautiful. It was just like this kind of hunched over weird pose that really reminded me of something like a voodoo ritual or something kind of very ancient, but also with that rock and roll twist to it. So, that’s what came to my head.
Dominic Richardson: At this point in your career, what type of photography do you enjoy creating the most? Is it digital photography? Is it jewelry? Is it fashion? Out of all of your experience, what’s your favorite thing to create?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: My favorite thing to create…I love all of photography so much. As long as I’m shooting, I feel in my happy place. But I’m really in my happy place when I’m shooting something that requires me to create something new. I also know that for many years, fashion, beauty, photography and a lot of celebrity photography-I love all of it! And a lot of the fashion and celebrity photography has a very strong crossover edge to art because like very high-end fashion clients, they really want art. They don’t want something commercial and the catalog look, they want something special from the artist. So, that’s how gradually my path towards art kind became more evolved, more and more evolved from the fashion, from the creative fashion and celebrity portraiture to just really fine art where there’s no limits, where I can create what I envision.
Dominic Richardson: After C/Overt Observations is finished in Illinois. Is it going to move on to another city? Is it going to tour the United States, or is there somewhere else that it’s going to go?
Udo Spreitzenbarth: That I have to discuss with the gallery and one of the other lead artists that was doing it with me. Actually, we talked about it, but we’re not 100% sure yet.