JÜRGEN KUSCHNIK

Jürgen Kuschnik was born in 1947 in Winsen an der Luhe, near Hamburg, Germany. In 1969, Kuschnik took a position with camera manufacturer Rollei-Werke in Braunschweig, Germany. His career with Rollei spanned more than a decade, and he became intimately familiar with the camera's inner workings and creative capabilities. It was during these years that Kuschnik found his artistic calling in fine art photography, moving behind the viewfinder to produce images reflecting the expertise of his technical training.

Rollei relocated Kuschnik to California in the late 1970s, where he eventually left the company to seriously pursue his artistic passion. He was stimulated to create within different forms of photography including black and white, cibachrome and manipulation, employing both medium and large-format cameras. Having mastered the traditional darkroom techniques and printing processes, he began to experiment with and also became proficient in platinum printing, solarization, SX70 manipulation and Polaroid image transfer.

For a time, Kuschnik took membership in both the San Francisco-based Friends of Photography and the Carmel, California-based Center of Photographic Art. He traveled frequently along the California coast for inspiration, meeting with such noted photographers as Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Cole Weston, Robert Werling, Sky Bergman, Michael Kenna and Jack Welpott. Kuschnik admired the talents of fellow German-born photographer, Ruth Bernhard and studied briefly under her through the Center of Photographic Art.

Kuschnik's subjects vary widely and are contained mostly in comprehensive series including, close-up images of plant forms and mechanical devices (Plant Form and Detail and Mechanics as Muse, ongoing), impressionistic visions of body language (Headless Series, ongoing), the body as form (Nude Series including the Box Works portfolio, 1995), interpretive images of time through color (Polaroid manipulated Seasons Series 1996-97) and abstractions among others. His work has steadily gained recognition through numerous awards, gallery and museum exhibitions, international auctions and professional photography publications, including ProfiFoto: Magazine for professionelle Fotografie & Electronic Imaging, and through acquisition by an ever-widening group of faithful collectors.

Kuschnik is today widely recognized for his work in both black and white photography as well as for his prolific Polaroid manipulation series. In June 1998, Kuschnik was featured on Hallo, Niedersachsen, a magazine program on German television. Several pieces of Kuschnik's Headless Series are also currently featured in the motion picture, How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog starring Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright-Penn.

Kuschnik's works are among the permanent collections of the Carnegie Museum, Oxnard, California, the University of Texas Museum of Fine Art, Austin, Texas, the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, Ventura, California, Haus der Fotografie in Hannover, Germany and numerous other corporate and private collections.