In this solo exhibition, Walter Ebenhofer shows large-format works in »Saxakt« that deal with the saxophone in an aesthetic and photo-technically specific way. Only musicians who love their instruments, know every detail about them and whose fingers have glided over the surface countless times while playing would recognize views of a saxophone in these pictures. The photographer speculates on this love in his work; the inspiration for this series comes from Artie Stepp’s famous quote »My sax is a sex symbol«. For Walter Ebenhofer, this is reflected in his sensual approach to photography in the darkroom. Working with these large formats requires a total focus on the image. The rhythmic work of development is juxtaposed with the loving touching of the instrument during the shooting process.
In »Kennzeichen«, Walter Ebenhofer marks conspicuous features in the landscape photographs with small crosses. This attention to seemingly insignificant sections of nature, the marking of certain places within it, is easily recognizable as a reference to the environmental awareness that has awakened in recent years. Using a complicated photographic process in which he produces two negatives with the same detail, but set to different distances, he lends these images an additional dimension.
from: Kurt Kaindl, FOTOHOF Info, 3/1988