Form Integration

May 25, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts

In the series “Habitat” Belgium photographer/artist Xavier Delory looks at prefab houses. House that can be found on the countryside of Belgium. And perhaps even in other western countries. One specific type of houses can be found here, called ‘Clé sur porte’. Or “Turnkey”. From which the definition is” Urban prefab cluster of similar forms implanted in the landscape without any effort of integration.

I look at the photographs and see visually interesting landscapes. Xavier depicts these houses almost as a representation of a social mega-trend. With little adjustments to the houses we see a closed up habitat were we, the individual, live our lives. Perhaps the words “without any effort of integration” says it all. We are all living in a society that builds on individuality by presenting us choices. And in the end the choices made per individual are not so different at all, yet we all feel unique. And all life our close-up lives without really trying to integrate.

Xavier Delory’s website: www.xavierdelory.be

Nature at its best

May 5, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts 1 Comment

The wonders of nature have alway been a thankful subject for artists. Dutch photographer Misha de Ridder, a man who lives in the city of Amsterdam, tries to relate to the wilderness, to the greatness of nature and in the end to the nature of his own existence and inevitable death. He does this beautifully with his photography. He is looking for those untouched places. True nature. Nature at its best. For example an extraordinary shaped tree, the shape of a mountain or the different atmospheres and lights that nature brings about at different moments in time. And by the use of a large format technical field camera, a 4×5 Linhof Technica, he is able to really capture those places that lack the intervention of men. The details, the colors, the softness, all are wonderful and does make you look and think twice about us humans, about how you as an individual relate to that overwhelming beauty and perhaps just to take you away in that ever inspiring subject that is nature.

Personal Space

April 17, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts 2 Comments

Alec Soth, member of Magnum since 2008, documents people and places. He uses an 8×10 camera. Important for him is to photograph a person when he or she is at ease. He said: “My own awkwardness comforts people, I think. It’s part of the exchange.”

The use of a large format camera brings about a softness that corresponds with the photographed subjects. The softness equals the comfortableness of the person photographed. As if Soth has found a way to reduce his own presence to that of the comfortable vibe a person has in their own personal space. And looking at his projects (Sleeping by the Mississippi, Broken Manual, The last days of W and others) he manages to truly tell a story by creating a mix of portraits, landscapes and interiors. As if we, the audience, get a look into a world we know not much about. A world that only comes about when a stranger is not present.

Large format view

March 24, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts

Dutch photographer Frank van der Salm documents the control of landscape, the lack of space, the infrastructural issues and the characteristics of the pressure on time and space in contemporary urban metropolises around the world. As he puts it on his website.

The large format photographs gives us a different look into the architectural urban worlds many people find themselves in now a days. The lack of people, the repetition of forms and shapes really brings about an abstract sense of the cityscapes from around the world. We seem to live our lives in a copy of a copy of a copy. Research estimates that in the year 2050, 70% of mankind will be living in cities. The works of Frank van der Salm show the efficiency in the usage of that seemingly limited space we all want to be in.