At Art Rotterdam 2022, TORCH Gallery is showing new photographic work by Ellen Kooi alongside artists Eelco Brand & Monty Richthofen.
Ellen Kooi (1965) was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, and lives and works in the Netherlands.
The large-scale panoramic photographs by Ellen Kooi challenge us to view the world as a dramatic narrative. She wants us to seek the border between fantasy and reality. At first glance, the people that inhabit these panoramas of (mostly Dutch) landscapes seem to be at the mercy of their surroundings. But if we look at these pictures more carefully, we see a more complex relationship, as the landscape almost responds to its inhabitants. The displays of nature we see are a symbolic reflection of the inner turmoil, or of the happiness of these people.
In a way comparable to 19th-century psychological portraits, Kooi tells us about myths, chance encounters and our relationship with the outside world. Her works are as much concerned with the landscape as they are with the person. By forming close connections between themes set in our visual memory of history but never choosing a main focus, Kooi’s works are suspenseful and hard to identify.
Ellen Kooi ‘s career is marked by an impressive list of national and international solo and group exhibitions.
Torch
Lauriergracht 94
1016 Rn Amsterdam Netherlands
https://www.torchgallery.com/
T +31206260284
[email protected]
