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The German artist Lars Garten, a doctor currently living in Berlin, probably represents one of the most traditional photographers within the selection of artists of the current Polanoir gallery. His photographs are exactly that: photographs. His heart beats for the photographic medium in the most classical way possible, while staying open for experiments and ideas if they are manageable within the photographic technique. When reading the descriptions of his reasons of taking photographs or how he found and approached the captured subject, why he captured it, where, when and in what circumstance, the beholder immediately feels that this man is a photographer with all his heart, mind and soul. Garten's words are as enthusiastic and filled with intensity as are the images themselves: "Sometimes I do not see much for a long period. but some days there are scenes which take my breath away. that's when I feel my heart pounding while getting my SX-70 ready for shooting. one of these moments happened to be on the 1st of January 2006." are his first words concerning a Polaroid series showing a snowy landscape in Germany, which belongs to his most popular photographic works. Most of the images are linked through a monochromatic color scheme - often ranging in blues, cyan's and greens – and keep a balanced decency, minimalism, simplicity and yet softness and intensity that has become Garten's trademark. His images tell stories of honesty, authenticity and incredibly open joy, they express love, love for life and of enthusiasm so convincingly although –or rather because - they are not staged, are not dramatic nor do they aggressively try to evoke effusive feelings. The pictures seem to be a decent, modest and sometimes even a playful approach to every day sights, especially evident in his Series "Introspectre" in which he shows "cut" buildings or larger objects (like cranes, advertisement) he photographed in Berlin, a series he started at the end of 2005 and has taken further in his latest work. Lars Garten's work represents a very conscious and confident, zeitgeist approach, gently not really documenting but photographically "approaching" Berlin, his home, today.

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