Klompching Gallery is delighted to open the 2011-2012 gallery season with an exhibition of newly released photographs by the New York-based Swiss artist, Cornelia Hediger.

Following on from her highly praised debut solo exhibition with the gallery in September 2008, Hediger returns with a phenomenal body of work entitled Doppelgänger II.

With this newly released series of photographs, Hediger continues her exploration of the uncanny, constructing complex pictorial narratives into segmented tableau vivants, consisting of up to eighteen individual photographs combined into a single composition.

In each artwork the central characters—doppelgängers—are interwoven into a performative psychological struggle, displaying an undercurrent of the sinister, of angst and moral ambiguity. The dialogical discourse between the two central characters is superbly enacted by the artist herself, drawing comparisons in visual and conceptual strength to the work of historical photographers such as Claude Cahun.

Doppelgänger II is a richly colorful set of impeccable images that challenges, intrigues and captivates. Hediger’s authorship is assertive and confident. The photographs display a sophisticated use of illusory space and costume that draws the viewer into a directed yet oblique storytelling that demands an investment of enquiry by the viewer.

Cornelia Hediger (b. 1967) was awarded a Master of Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her work has been widely exhibited in the US, as well as internationally and in 2009 she was awarded a PDN’s 30: Emerging Photographers to Watch. Her photographs have been featured in New York Magazine, HotShoe, Vision Magazine, Photography Quarterly, Photo+ and Phat Photo amongst others.