Artist Lecture: Edwin Zwakman – 01.12.15

Later… (2001)

at Aperture Gallery’s Nature as Artificeexhibition

A visual artist from the Netherlands whose works explore the interaction between reality and photography, either with staged photography, either in his studio or in public space.

Works in the studio include a long-running series of pictures showing scale models of Dutch landscapes and interiors.

And this landscape is itself a construct. By reconstructing it from memory, the artist reflects on the mentality of its makers and the way their world is represented in images. Works in public space concern themselves with iconic images from sites and events, often using fictitious United Nation operations to illustrate the workings of images in the media.

zwakman_pylon

04-pylon

Pylon, 2006

C-print, 190 x 145 cm

set pylon

edwin-zwakman-view-of-set-for-fly-over-2

20140122071915-unnamed

4952

Gat I, 1999
c-print mounted on aluminium, edition 1/5 , (180 x 240 cm)

4953

Ontbijt/Breakfast I, 1997
c-print mounted on aluminium, edition 4/5 (220 x 160 cm)

Notes:

  • Wants a work with a straight forward answer. [Audiences] You do not want to be bullsh*tted by an artwork that only looks beautiful. You want to know what is and what is going on.
  • The whole world as a reproduction, as seen through the news thousands of times a day
  • Wants to evoke truth, which in many ways is just a narrative
  • Photographs are a reality with a twist that gives audiences a different perspective
  • Deep concerns with the manipulation of audiences, using them as merely ‘extras’ in the work
  • [Inner] Conflict with small-scale models: descriptions actually revealed in hindsight
  • Eerie photographic endpoint

5858

Keuken/Kitchen, 2001
c-print, plexi, edition 1/5 (200 x 143 cm)

6920

Backyard V Mess, 2004
c-print, plexi, reynobond, edition 1/5 (220 x 146 cm)

6921

 Keuken/Kitchen, 2001
c-print, plexi, reynobond, edition 1/5, 47 1 (120 x 92 cm)

What I enjoy about the work is the feeling of the images, not quite real yet remaining so realistic in their depiction,there is something eternal that you are searching for within the images.

The ‘everyday’ nature of the images instantly recognisable and yet at the same time too clinical in their depiction, I really enjoy the process and technique of the images.

Even his sentiment within the lecture, so distanced in his methodology, he is still so enamoured with the technique despite the concerns with the audience.

Nevertheless his images are stunning examples of artistic process and even architecture in many ways as he [from memory] explores the landscape, architecture and memory in a most beautiful way.

Lecture Images:

IMG_2099 (1)

IMG_2100 (1)

IMG_2103
IMG_2102 (1)

IMG_2104

IMG_2106

IMG_2107

IMG_2110

IMG_2111

IMG_2089

IMG_2090

IMG_2092

IMG_2087

IMG_2093

IMG_2094

Hospital  (above 2 images)

IMG_2096

UN Buses

IMG_2097

UN Buses – aerial view

IMG_2098

Spiralling staircase (Derby)

Real-life example

IMG_2086

behind-the-scenes view

http://www.gimpelfils.com/pages/artists/artist.php?artistindex=53&subsec=1

http://www.edwinzwakman.nl/

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *