Frank van Schoor
Ruud van Empel (1958) is a versatile artist. He has already enjoyed a broad artistic career as a decor and theatre designer, graphic designer, and film-maker. He has worked on various television productions as an art director, and in 1993 received the Charlotte Köhler Award for his television work and other associated activities. In the early nineties he began to present his artistic work to the general public, creating collages of plants, animals, flowers and trees, mounted in large forest landscapes that he had previously photographed in black-and-white. This black-and-white collage was then photographed once more to create an even whole. When the possibilities of Adobe Photoshop (=processing photos with the aid of a software package) became available, he could adapt his collages further. From the mid-nineties onward, he devoted all his endeavour to art photography, developing his images in thematic series. In this way, several series have been generated since 1995: The Office, Study in Green and, more recently, World, Moon & Venus.
Since 2002, he has been working a great deal with nature and, in doing so, he has definitively found his present-day characteristic visual language: photographic works with an unbelievable clarity of colour, rich in detail, with intriguing representation, and a fairytale ambience. Children often feature prominently in his images. Ruud van Empel combines forms on the computer and assembles pictures that deceive our perception. His work balances between reality and perfection. They are magical-realistic images, as it were, a cross between narrative painting and staged photography. The artwork that Ruud van Empel finally presents to the public seems harmonious and self-evident. The sophisticated viewer will suspect that intensive work has gone into the photo work presented, but the definitive image looks extremely refined. To gain a good insight into the photography of Ruud van Empel, it is useful to review the major external influences from painting and photography on his work.
Women of Power consists of 29 color photographs depicting Polish witches, healers, sorceresses, visionaries, spiritual leaders and shamanic techniques practitioners.
According to what Ewelina Jarosz wrote about Women of Power : "The title points to Katarzyna Majak's intenti...
C’est à une invitation à la sérénité et à un retour sur soi que nous propose Yves Marcellin dans cette exposition inédite, installation photographique consacrée aux cinq remémorations du Bouddha.
Empreint des écrits du vénérable moine bouddhiste Thich Nhat Hanh, et plus particulièrement sensi...
With "The Family of Dog", Michael Ruetz has created, over the last 50 years, a unique body of photographic work. Superficially, these images might appear to pay tribute to the established forms of animal photography. But a second, more focused view shows that the reverse is true. Ruetz' pictures are as far removed from those of the animal specialist...
Failed States is an exploration of coincidence and poetics amid the barriers and bureaucracy of governmental power.
In January 2010, while on a trip to research the history of snipers in Austin, Texas, Magid witnessed a mysterious shooting on the steps of the State Capitol. After attempting to speak with a state empl...
Une Ford Pick-up, une Pan/Shovel 66, une Custom 2004 (Jeffrey), une Triumph 69 (Vince), une El Camino 64, une Bel Air 65 (peinte par Vince), une Duo Glide 62, une Comet (qui appartenait à Steve Mc Queen), une Special Construction 2000 (toutes, OM), une Harley 1969, une Dyna 2003 (Wes),une Pan 59, une Pan 62, une Pan 65 (John Copeland), une Sportster 68 (Dr...
Le conte photographique l’Emouvantail, se veut être « l’Echo » d’une histoire d’amour entre un épouvantail etune jeune femme, la Dame de l’O qui pourrait être celle de chacun d’entre nous… Mais pas seulement…
Créée par le Musée de l’Elysée à Lausanne, l’exposition Hans Steiner Chronique de la vie moderne a été présentée à la Fotostiftung de Winterthour, à la Médiathèque Valais-Martigny et au Museo Villa dei Cedri de Bellinzona.