Gerald Berghammer

Born in Upper Austria, Berghammer has lived and worked in Vienna since 2002, where he also runs the SILVERFINEART Gallery. His artistic practice is closely tied to technical mastery; in 2010, he completed his training with a master craftsman’s diploma. This interplay between technical control and conceptual reduction continues to shape his visual language to this day.

In the series Between Light and Silence, Berghammer consistently develops this approach. The work explores landscape as a liminal space – between motion and stillness, presence and absence, precision and abstraction. Long exposure times dissolve water and sky into fluid, almost immaterial surfaces. What remains are carefully placed points of reference: rock formations, architectural elements, or vegetal lines that anchor the image.

Here, light is not merely depicted but acts as a formative force – silence becomes something tangible. The resulting compositions do less to describe than to structure; they deliberately slow down perception, inviting the viewer to recalibrate their sense of space, time, and memory.

Berghammer demonstrates that this sensibility extends equally into color with the series Waiting for Summer. At first glance, the means appear to shift: vibrant pedal boats, bold planes of color, and an almost graphic composition. Yet here, too, the focus is not on the event itself, but on the moment just before it. The boats hover just above the water’s surface as weather and light subtly shift; a place of leisure becomes an atmospheric stage of anticipation. The vivid colors enter into an almost electric relationship with the subdued surroundings, revealing the core theme of the series: the tension between expectation and experience – frozen anticipation, a gently swaying narrative of transience, longing, and the rhythm of the seasons.

Between these two bodies of work, a finely balanced field unfolds. Black-and-white photographs that translate vastness and reduction into an almost timeless form stand alongside color compositions in which order, symmetry, and contrast intensify. In both cases, the visual language follows the same principle: it removes what distracts and sharpens what would otherwise remain unseen.

Berghammer’s work does not call for quick viewing, but for attentive looking. Those who pause are rewarded with a renewed, decelerated, and more profound form of perception.

2024 Black And White – Silverfineart Gallery Vienna, Austria

2023 American Beauty – Silverfineart Gallery Vienna, Austria

2022 Essence Of Ligh – Silverfineart Gallery Vienna, Austria

2019 Art Karlsruhe – Galerie STP – Karlsruhe, Germany

2018 Art Karlsruhe – Galerie Edition Camos – Karlsruhe, Germany

2018 Essential Light – Galerie STP – Greifswald, Germany

2018 The Selection – Galerie Bildraum 01 – Vienna, Austria

2017 St’art Art Fair – Galerie Arnoux – Strasbourg, France

2017 Black and White – Galerie Arnoux – Paris, France

2017 Black and White – Galerie Camos – Munich, Germany

2017 Art Karlsruhe – Galerie Camos – Karlsruhe, Germany

2016 Phoenix Art Museum – Tilt Gallery – Phoenix, United States

2016 Timeless – Galerie Der Stadt Traun – Austria

2016 Art Innsbruck – Galerie Edition Camos – Innsbruck, Austria

2016 American Beauty – Galerie Cimmic – Vienna, Austria

2016 Art Karlsruhe – Galerie Edition Camos – Karlsruhe, Germany

2015 Ireland: The Green Island in Black and White – Galerie Lumina – Vienna, Austria

2015 Photo Adventure – Messe Wien – Vienna, Austria

2015 Taiwan Photo Fair – Taipei, Taiwan

2015 Essence of Light – Galerie Camos – Munich, Germany

2015 America – Galerie Cimmic – Vienna, Austria

2014 Taiwan Photo Fair – Taipei, Taiwan

2013 Fleeting Moments – Galerie Lumina – Vienna, Austria

I find my art in two different ways. On the one hand, I deliberately travel to certain places, having carefully studied in advance to find the best possible weather conditions for me. The optimal weather for me is a heavily overcast sky, just before the rain. On the other hand, I plan a trip to a country, rent a car, and drive through streets where I believe I might discover something interesting. This way is the more exciting and interesting one for me, because nothing can really be planned. I have to fully engage with the circumstances and deal with whatever I encounter along the way.

There are subjects for which I have a very specific image in mind of how I want to capture them. This often requires visiting a place repeatedly over a long period of time and hoping that exactly the mood I imagine will occur. You can’t plan much for this - except to be ready when that moment happens. Because in landscape photography, the time window for a shot is usually very short.

Ansel Adams’ book The Negative taught me a great deal. From it I learned how important correct exposure is and how to develop a negative so that it can be enlarged exactly as you imagine it. It is one of the few books that is not stored away somewhere, but always within reach.

Ansel Adams is credited with the statement that the best photograph is always the one you never took. I would love to have him explain that idea to me in more detail in person. ;)

For a long time I worked abroad as a technician. To show my friends and family at home my impressions, I started to capture them with a small camera. Over time my interest in photography grew more and more, and I realized that my knowledge was not sufficient. That is why I decided to complete a photographic education alongside my job. This was followed by the journeyman’s examination and later the master craftsman’s examination. Eventually I gave up my job as a technician and consciously chose the path of a photographer. That was about 15 years ago now.

Basically, I am fascinated by anyone who does something out of passion without knowing exactly whether it will pay off financially. I am particularly impressed by artists who do not create their art with the thought of what they can charge for it, but simply because they want to make art. It is precisely this attitude that influences me.

I was born near Lake Attersee, where Gustav Klimt regularly spent his summers between 1900 and 1916. That is exactly where and when I would like to travel - to meet him there by the lake.

Traveling in order to make art.

It is important to me to continuously develop and expand my portfolio. In the process, images are created that complement other works in exhibitions very well. This is not planned, but develops naturally over the years.