_{Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, 2014}

Balthasar Burkhard (b. 1944, Bern, Switzerland; d. 2010, Bern, Switzerland) was a Swiss photographer who mainly worked in black and white photography. He printed his own silver prints himself, often in huge dimensions, and framed his images in iron frames behind glass. He is internationally recognized as an important minimalist artist, with works in several international museums and public collections. He often worked in cycles. His cityscapes, landscapes, or deserts are mostly taken from the bird's-eye-view perspective: photographed from helicopters or atop skyscrapers. His photographs of megacities such as Tokyo, Mexico City, and Chicago are juxtaposed against expansive sandy desert scenes. In the cycle "Rio Negro", Balthasar Burkhard worked in the rain forests of the Amazon. In this series, his lens is captured from nature.