Perplexity

All works feature models photographed by Holthusen and are collages that combine AI-generated textures and elements as well as photographs of models, animals and structures. Holthusen creates a unique connection between traditional photography and modern digital art.

This series is a study of modern Renaissance.

What is the matrix of beauty like and how can it be overcome? Conceptual photographer Corinna Holthusen has been researching this question for decades. The creation of her portraits has always been characterized by the interplay of digital and analogue work processes. And now, with the partial insertion of AI image elements generated by her, she has reached a new level of complexity.



"In her works, the past, present and even the future of human portraits flow into one another and become one," says art critic Thomas Wulffen about Holthusen's art. These images, seemingly decoupled from time and space, are created in a detailed process in which Holthusen meticulously adapts her shots of faces, bodies, fabrics and dolls to the artificially generated images with light and perspective in several steps - or vice versa. She sometimes finalizes her works with analogue painting and transparent textures. New, artificial beings and worlds are created from scratch. This seemingly endless, sometimes grotesque superimposition of physiognomies creates a form of irritation in us “real” beings: we are perplexed by the extent of supposed beauty presented to us – or by its deliberate disruption. Existential questions are evoked, such as: What actually constitutes being human?