Jörg Sasse  (German, 1962) 

Jörg Sasse (German, b.1962) is a Contemporary photographer and visual artist whose specialty is adept but subtle digital image manipulation. Born in Bad Salzuflen, Sasse studied photography under renowned photographers Bernhard "Bernd" Becher (German, 1931–2007) and Hilla Becher (German, b.1934) at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Dusseldorf Art Academy) from 1982 to 1988. Thereafter, he began taking professional photos that mainly featured display windows with multifaceted reflections and still-life pictures of household interiors.

The artist’s early works were displayed by various European galleries in Germany, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. However, in 1994, Sasse stopped taking his own photographs, and began manipulating other pictures. The first photos he worked on were city and landscape renderings from friends and acquaintances. The artist scanned these images into his computer and began to edit the details. Afterward, he would create films of the edited images and reproduce them as new prints. Some of his popular early prints included 8144 (1988), showing beachside lamps glowing brightly in the backdrop of the evening.

The artist held his first solo exhibition in 1989 in the Kunstverein Region, Heinsberg. At the time, his style was heavily borrowed from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf school of thought, promoted by Bernd and Hilla Bercher. This is easily identifiable by the inclusion of industrial structures in his early works, similar to those of his teachers. After switching to his new style of image manipulation, the photographer became quite popular, holding exhibitions across Germany and Switzerland, as well as at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1997), thebLehmann Maupin Gallery in New York (1997, 1999, 2000, and 2001), Mai 36 in Zurich (1998, 2002, and 2004), and Musée de Grenoble (2005). In 2007, a collection of his prints appeared at the Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf, Germany. His work is documented in various publications, the most recent being d8207 by Walther Konig, Cologne. In 2003, Jörg Sasse was awarded the Cologne Fine Art Prize. His other accolades include the Deutscher Künstlerbund, or Association of German Artists Award, (1996) and the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani in Venice (1997). The artist lives and works in Dusseldorf, Germany.