Roger Ballen
dal 11/11/2011 al 11/12/2011
Segnalato da
11/11/2011
Roger Ballen
Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex, Amsterdam
Animal Abstraction. The exhibition shows iconic images from Ballen's books as well as important photographs that have never been shown before. The 25 works on display challenge the viewer's perception of photography and its relation to art and to life.
Roger Ballen is regarded as one of the world’s foremost practitioner’s of black and white photography. He has been shooting in monochrome for nearly half a century, from his renowned documentary images of South African villagers to his recent extraordinary explorations of the psyche and its aesthetic.
Ballen’s work has been exhibited across the globe, and is widely collected by the world’s important art institutions, from Moma in New York, to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
The Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam, presents a rare opportunity to view a selection of Ballen’s work from over the past 20 years. The exhibition will showcase iconic images from his acclaimed books, Shadow Chamber, Outland, and Boarding House, as well as important photographs that have never been shown before. In their rich complexity and visual daring, the 25 works on display challenge the viewer’s perception of photography and its relation to art - and to life.
These multi-layered photographs illuminate Ballen’s fascination with the animal kingdom and our complicated relationship to animals and birds. He invites us to reconsider that dynamic:
A bird spreading its wings mirrors the concertina of an accordion. A snake slithers across a drawing of a boy whose eyes peer out of a tiger skin stretched across his face. A siamese crouches on a chaise-longue next to a woman wearing a cat mask. Are these playful scenes, or is there a note of menace? Who is in control – us or them?
“I feel an affinity with animals,” Ballen says. “There is something mysterious and beautiful about them that is hard to put your finger on. They don’t give their secrets away.”
Consistently in these works, Ballen insists on obscuring human identity. All we are given are masked figures, or disembodied hands and feet. It is unsettling, ambiguous. The addition of drawing and collage present yet more layers for us to decipher.
Each image invites careful study, providing multiple readings, multiple meanings. Ballen leaves it to the viewer to make his mind up.
“I want, consciously, or unconsciously, to get to the meaning of life.”
On the occasion of the exhibition Reflex Editions has published the book Roger Ballen - Animal Abstraction, a collection of new images as well as other important photographs never shown before. Roger Ballen will be signing copies of the book at the opening. A portfolio in a limited edition with an original print matching the show will be presented at the opening.
Edition/Artists' Books
EAB 2011 booth 32, 2nd floor
3 - 6 November 2011
New York City
548 West 22nd Street
11 am - 7 pm Fri & Sat; 11 am - 4 pm Sun
www.eabfair.com
Opening: saturday, November 12th between 5 and 7 pm in the presence of the artist.
Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex Amsterdam
Weteringschans 83 . 1017 RZ Amsterdam
Opening hours: Tues - Sat 10:30 am - 6 pm
Admission free