Flat Earth Osterburg, Lothar  (German, b.1961)

Conjuring up monumental phenomena by minimal means, Lothar Osterburg presents picturesque events like a zeppelin over Timbuktu, a glider over the Gowanus Canal, a beached cargo ship at Montauk on Long Island, and an approach to a celestial body by a landing craft. But they are all contrived in his studio, using mundane materials like twigs, toothpicks, peanut butter and wee electrical parts, and photographed through a magnifying glass or a macro lens.–New York Times, September 19, 2003.

Lothar Osterburg (born 1961) is a German-born, New York-based artist and master printer in intaglio, who works in sculpture, photography, printmaking and video. He is best known for photogravures featuring rough small-scale models of rustic structures, water and air vessels, and imaginary cities, staged in evocative settings and photographed to appear life-size to disorienting, mysterious or whimsical effect. Judy Pfaff describes his work as thick with film noir–like atmosphere, warmth, reverie, drama and timelessness.

References

Glueck, Grace. "Lothar Osterburg ‘At the Edge of the Real,’" The New York Times, September 19, 2003, p. E39. Retrieved August 10, 2020.

Pfaff, Judy. "Timeless Constructions," Art On Paper, November/December 2004, p. 46–7.