Christoph Gielen – Artwork and Bio of the German Photographer

Christoph Gielen is a New York-based German photographer born in Bonn, NRW. Growing up in Germany and constantly encountering pre-fabricated Plattenbau instilled in Gielen a fascination with buildings and housing and a need to address urban development issues. After completing his studies at the Parsons School of Design in New York, where he studied Photography, Gielen found the perfect way to express his concerns.

Gielen explores the intersection between photographic aestheticism and environmental development, creating beautiful pictures that double as a means of assessment for urban planning officials. Not only do Gielen’s photographs express a certain beauty, but they also carry a profound message of the imminent dangers of overpopulation.

A collection of Gielen’s pictures – titled Ciphers – were compiled and published on 30 April 2014. These pictures – showing the aerial view of American Suburbia in its spiraling forms – with contributing essays by Srdjan Jovanic Weiss, Susannah Sayler, Galina Tachieva, Edward Morris, and Johann Frederik Hartle, highlight the effects of urbanization on nature.

Christoph’s works are recognized worldwide and used by architects and developers. Gielen’s works are in public and private collections, including the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée in France and the Art Gallery of Alberta in Canada. Gielen continues to intersect art and environmental politics while living and working in New York.

What is Christoph Gielen Known For?

Christoph Gielen is known for photographing aerial views of urban areas in America. Gielen’s pictures show the suburbia in a rare sight – where the area takes an elliptical/sprawling form. The artist’s creative process involves mapping the area on land before flying over in a helicopter and capturing the aerial view with a camera.