Different Shades of Black

Dutch photographer Arjen Zwart, based in Istanbul, Turkey, photographs the back alleys of Istanbul in his series ZIFT. He finds art on the walls of buildings. The walls have been treated with tar to make them waterproof. This practical usage of this black stuff brings about unintended beauty, or pieces of art as he calls it. And it reminds him of the works of great artists like Mark Rothko and Kazimir Malevich. The different shades of black, the structure of the walls and the surroundings make for some beautiful photographs. Arjen makes us look differently at the ordinary structures and buildings surrounding us. And showing us the abstractness and beauty in these ordinary places.

Arjen’s website: www.arjenzwart.com

Read More

Defying Objectivity

One of the wonderful things art can do is make you look at the world differently. French artist Philippe Ramette‘s photographs do just that. If you still believe photography gives an objective view of our world, Phillipe Ramette surely shall make you think twice. And if you think Photoshop has something to do with his photographs, you are wrong. Ramette’s playing with gravity like many art works do with ones emotions. His surreal works of art not only makes you think differently about the art form of photography but also about men’s relation to nature and its rules.

Read More

Peeping Tom

A true master of photography is Dutchmen Erwin Olaf. With Anton Corbijn perhaps one of the names a Dutch-non-photography-enthusiast might know. Erwin Olaf is an artist who tries to set a mood and tell a story with his work. He isn’t out to tell his story, per se. He creates a scene in which the viewer can create his or her own story. The photographs are so wonderfully lit that a random crop would probably even produce another wonderful photograph. His latest work is called The Keyhole.

The Keyhole is showcased as a video/photo installation that, at the viewer’s own responsibility, can be watched, or be peeked at, through a keyhole. Erwin Olaf uses film and music to enhance his photographic work. And vice versa. The whole packages brings an extra dimension to this work of art. The Keyhole shows us seven individuals from their backsides. We look at them as if we have caught them doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. The feeling one might get when sneaking a peek at something. The awareness you’ll have of doing something sneaky or even wrong, when looking at something or somebody through a keyhole.

In the video below Erwin talks about his work.

Read More

Numbers Visualized

Some statistics are just too mind-blowingly incomprehensible to digest. Luckily there is an artist who tries to translate incomprehensible data into comprehensible works of art. His name is Chris Jordan. Chris visualizes statistics in his series “Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait”. For example, he visualizes the consumption of plastic bottles in the United States every minute by using 400,000 plastic bottle caps in his artwork called Caps Seurat. And he shows us 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005.

Chris isn’t pointing any fingers. He just wants to show the U.S. who they are at this moment in time. His visualizations are making it very clear that certain things in American culture, maybe even western culture, are open for reform. Visit his website to see at all of his visualizations. You can zoom in on the works of art to really dig into the statistic. Below you also find the talk he gave at TED in 2008.

Website: www.chrisjordan.com

Read More

Carefully Composed Works of Art

Photography has evolved through out the years and is getting more and more respected as an art form. Perhaps Man Ray really kicked off the conceptual kind of usage of the camera.

Still-life photographer Maurice Scheltens and visual artist Liesbeth Abbenes are artists, like Man Ray, that have a truly conceptual approach to photography. The photos they compose are created by looking at shape and color. The overall composition is the important factor in their creations. Some of their work even reminds me of paintings by Mark Rothko.

Scheltens & Abbenes take ordinary objects like hangers or chairs and manage to place them in such a way that their shapes or colors brings about something truly abstract. They make us look at the objects not for what they are but for what they can be. Shape over function. It makes us look differently towards any given object. Wonderful photographs that will look beautifully on any living room wall.

Website: www.scheltens-abbenes.com

Kunstuur (Dutch) – In Sight: Scheltens & Abbenes

Read More

365 days of Femke

Young and talented photographer Femke van Veen has just started a new project. A photo series that will cover 365 days. She is 5 weeks into her project now. On her blog she will share the photos with us. A 365 photos kind of project has been done by others before, of course, but knowing the kind of photographer she is, it might be a very interesting blog to follow. Beautiful photographs guaranteed.

Click here for her Blog

Read More