Andreas Gehrke is a German artist and publisher
Episode 227: Andreas Gehrke is an exceptional artist and the publisher behind Drittel Books.
I first came across Andreas’s output as a publisher first. It was when I first met Sara-lena Maierhofer in Vienna. At the time, she was showing the first version of her Aperture Award-nominated book Dear Clark, a fascinating story about a con man. Andreas and I would correspond from time to time on projects he was working on, but we largely evaded each other (improbably) until the release of his book Berlin. As someone who has made a book on the same city, I don’t mind saying that it is one of the key books on the subject along with John Gossage’s Berlin in the Time of the Wall, Michael Schmidt’s Waffenruhe, and recently Eiko Grimberg’s RÜCKSCHAUFEHLER.
Andreas’s work is some of the finest that I have witnessed coming out of Germany over the past half-decade. Apart from being a respected publisher, Gehrke is an exceptional photographer whose masterful work reflects Germany’s complicated history both through the study of place, but also architecture and its details. His work on the IBM Campus, the Der Spiegel building, Brandenberg, and his deep consideration of the Topography of Terror site all deserve thoughtful rumination. What appears formal and studied on the outside is unlocked by applying Gehrke’s deep knowledge of socio-political history and a profound sense of cultural totems.
In speaking with Andreas, I felt lucky to go through his work. In some ways, I have met only one other mind like his previously in Erik van der Weijde whose careful architectural, historical, and cultural application to making photographic art is on par with Andreas. I only reference him as these two minds are so strikingly unique that it is strange to consider their shared ability though their work does not necessarily look alike. Andreas is a true master of composition and his images breathe a heavy sigh to their subject matter without turning the work dour or sad. They are observations and yet the historical implication weighs heavily. I have come to greatly appreciate his careful and elegiac work with great and studious passion.
In the episode, we speak about Andreas’s work as a publisher, and of course, his significant books and work. We dive pretty deep in and being relatively young, I hope to speak with him often. Please Tune-in!
