"An intimate Dialogue" consists of a multi layered series of self-portraits, featuring the artist as himself and his mirror image as a different persona, while the two are interacting.
The thought provoking project focuses on communication, conflict and understanding within the facets of one's own mind, deliberately blurring the lines between reality and imagination. As this photographic story telling unfolds, the viewer gets an up-close and unusual look at awareness, appreciation, temptation, disappointment, anger, repression and violence taking place within one person. The result is a visually unique depiction of a mind in negotiation with itself.
During the progression of the photographs, the three vastly different roles Mr. Burgmaier takes on in the realization of his series - the actual, the reflection, and the one capturing the scene - all contribute to the intensity of layers within An Intimate Dialogue. This triangle becomes a crucial component in those images where the reflection looks directly at the camera, acknowledging and even taunting the one silently witnessing this apparent interrogation.
As a professional ballet dancer with an extensive performance career, Bernd R. Burgmaier's strength lies within his awareness of body, posture, angles and staging. Using those elements acquired in the world of theater and performance, the artist successfully manipulates his body in such a way that one body appears to be speaking two languages simultaneously. With the help of a mirror, make up, and focused lighting, the illusion lies within his physical ability to project contrasting intensities between his actual self and his mirror image. In doing so, the viewer's mind insists on seeing two individuals having a conversation, even though the eyes know that they are looking at a mere reflection. The illusion of more than one person being depicted in the images challenges the viewer not to separate the two, or to do so for only a brief moment before putting them back into one with a new perspective and understanding.
Opposing the physical precision applied to Dialogue is a lack of detail and definition in space, partial appearance and even in gender roles, leaving room for the mind's inherent reaction to fill space with imagery of individual meaning and personal relevance. At the same time, the artist chooses to retain very clear reminders of reality in his images, whether it is in the form of the subtle edge of the mirror, or a hand that proves to be an anatomical impossibility. Mr. Burgmaier uses those reminders with regularity throughout the series, forcing the wondering mind back to the sheer simplicity that lies at the root of An Intimate Dialogue.
The artist’s ability to navigate the viewer's perception to and from fact, imagination, the external and the internal, makes Dialogue a layered and emotionally interactive experience.
The work also raises questions about the ubiquity of self-portraiture in the digital age. While the often superficial objective of “selfies” is to promote a sense of pride in one’s possessions, activities, surroundings or appearance, Mr. Burgmaier focuses on the complex, even contradictory qualities of the self that is being photographed.
