Blue jeans, burning rubber

Lotte Reimann

Blue jeans, Burning rubber
Jaunt (2014) & Bis morgen im Nassen (2013)

Text by Sonia de Jager

Blue jeans, Burning rubber (2016) combines two previously existing "fabricated nonfiction" works by Lotte Reimann, presented alongside each other so as to expose the compatibility and symbiosis in their subjects and objects. Bold yet subtle, Reimann's images navigate between the light and the loaded, resulting in a condensed dose of eros and psyche. Inspired by the likes of JG Ballard, John Fante, David Cronenberg and Ulrich Seidl; Reimann creates two parallel narratives displayed as coercive materializations of worlds generally unknown to 'passerby life,' perhaps even forbidden. Bodies displayed at their prime: frozen in a moment of ecstasy. Our most sensual of natures presented as motion pictures which, in fact, do not move. Despite the heavy, alluring reality of sex, Reimann manages to elevate carnality to the level of jaunty persuasion. These images are not peepholes into the private lives of fetishist individuals but rather flauntful displays of the pleasures of skin against leather, against soaked denim, against asphalt and under the sun. If ever addressing skin on skin at all.

Blue jeans, Burning rubber treats subjects such pleasure, desire and pride in a manner neither passionately glorifying nor discriminatingly scientific. It presents these human drives as belonging to the realm of personal freedom. While J aunt presents the more exhibitionist side of the story, Bis Morgen im Nassen reveals the innocent adrenaline driving these impulses. This nonjudgemental approach to her subjects is achieved by Reimann's characteristic treatment of appropriated material: she tells her own stories through the partial use of the images of others. In doing so, a union of identities is achieved, in such a way that it is both honest, realistic and highly fictional at the same time.

There are different modes at work in the ways things are presented. Firstly, fullon photography is brought forth as a medium powerful, necessary and ultimately immeasurably relevant today. Subjects such as "the portrait," the (auto) biography, and identity overall are explained in a playful, lineblurring manner. By arresting fleeting images from the hidden corners of the internet, Reimann creates narratives which take on an authentic documentary air while remaining fictive. The resulting captivating imagery creates thus an alluring entrance into these worlds which most often get categorized as taboo, abnormal and inadmissible. Last but not least, the very origin of Reimann's images and her methods inspire questions on some of the most contemporary tropes of all: privacy and identity, ownership and originality, the artist and the amateur, as they develop in the age of new media. Ultimately, Lotte Reimann's work
provocatively demonstrates the capacities of photographic storytelling, showing more overlap than exclusion with media such as film or literature.

Lotte Reimann (Achim, 1982) studied photography both at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld, as well as at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Her work has been shown across Europe and she published monographs with Art Paper Editions (BE) and RVB Books (FR). She was also awarded the Dutch Mondriaan Fonds young talent prize and was funded by the German Stiftung Kunstfonds and Kunststiftung NRW. She currently lives and works in Bielefeld, Germany.