Ag Galerie Teheran – Mohsen Yazdipour (1980 Iran) (Images 9)
Project title A Site (Not) to See – Tehran is one of the largest and most populated cities in the world. About fourteen-million people live here. Some are native to the city but most have come to this city to escape the unemployment, lack of resources and opportunities in their own. The city has grown faster than it can be maintained. We raised it that way. And it has become impossible to fix. It has no manners and it isn’t ashamed to show it.
By driving in Tehran you will lose hours. Walking is worse, for to walk in Tehran is to evade and avoid its many dangers. Tehran is angry and it wants revenge for having been mistreated for so long and so poorly. its citizens are confronted daily by its attacks, be they visual, mental or physical. Threatening larger-than-life figures, an ever-changing maze and treacherous, life-threatening paths. Not to mention the debilitating pollution. Tehran is the chosen environment of its citizens and it has become their prison. People come to Tehran to live but never leave. Tehran is an invalid. And it is rude to stare at invalids. so I take these pictures for everyone to see and to try to understand why the city is the way it is.
Mohsen Yazdipour (Tehran) is a contemporary visual artist who uses elements of photography to create thought-provoking, sequential photo-artworks. Yazdipour’s unique perspective is honed through a combination of cultural influences, personal experiences, and education. His disciplined approach to the artistic process combines observation, collection and elimination. A method through which he explores the self and its connection to the environment, using a variety of techniques to convey his concepts and messages. Yazdipour graduated with an MA in Photography from the University of Tehran (2006) and a BA in Photography from the Islamic Azad University of Art & Architecture in Tehran (2003). He also participated in courses at the Media Arts Academy (1996-2000)
Ag Galerie Teheran – Homayoun Sirizi (1981 Iran) (Images 10 )
Project Title: Thirty-One Years, Less One Day – On January 14th, 1971, the Shahyad Aryamehr Building opens to the public. On January 15th, 2010, the Iranian art community mourns the passing of renowned Iranian photographer Bahman Jalali (1945-2010) and on January 16th, 1978, Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi, flees Iran never to return again. That which connects these three consecutive dates over three decades of Iran’s tumultuous history, is a photograph made by Bahman Jalali on a date thirty-one years less one day before the date on which he passed away.
The photograph is of a young Iranian revolutionary in 1978. Arms raised and walking ahead of a protesting crowd, he is wearing a hand-knitted sweater bearing the design of the Shahyad monument built by the ousted to king to honor his own memory. Deformed in proportions, the tower foretells of the distorted “freedom” awaiting the nation.
Sirizi searched for all the photographs taken on that day by other photographers which also contained the image of the monument. He then distorted the tower to meet the same proportions as those of the tower on the knitted sweater. They are hung loosely on the wall and pinned to the wall only on the top side simulating birds taking flight.
“Thirty-One Years, Less One Day” is a memorial for the tenth anniversary of the passing of Bahman Jalali in 2020 as well as the historiography of the seizure of a monument of power by the people of Iran.
Homayoun Sirizi (Tehran, 1981) is an architect, artist, writer and curator known for his ingenuity at extracting coincidences of time, language, history and politics from archival materials. His works investigate the dark and sometimes satirical possibilities of history. Sirizi studied architecture at University of Tehran. He has exhibited in Austria, Belgium, USA, Italy, Russia, Germany and Turkey. His work has been included in the 13th and 15th Biennale di Venezia International Architecture Exhibition, the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, the 9th Alanica Symposium, Vladikavkaz, dOCUMENTA 13, Germany and the 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey.
Ag Galerie Teheran – Amin Yousefi (1996 Iran) (Images 11)
Project Title: Eyes Dazzle as the Search for the Truth —- How could it be that the sound of a 35mm camera shutter attracts the attention of a protestor in a crowd? As if the photographer used a megaphone to say “One, Two, Three, Cheese…” and some participants gazed out of the atmosphere to stare at the camera. I want to find my suspects like a detective among the revolutionaries of Iran in 1978-1979. The Iranian revolution stands as a paramount milestone in the Middle East over the past five decades, exerting multifaceted ramifications that have reverberated throughout the region. This project highlights individuals who looked out from among the masses at a crucial moment in history and stared into the lens of a camera.
The photographer is usually the one that is in control of the image being captured. The photographer chooses the mise-en-scène by choosing their position. In these photographs, the anticipated relationship has been reversed, as the photographer was influenced by the crowds and the eyes that turned towards the camera. As if the subject and object had exchanged places. This reversal of roles had a significant impact, as it was the people themselves who took on the task of capturing the image with their gaze, rather than the camera turning towards them.
Photographing through a magnifying loupe provided an allegory for extracting photographs of the revolution and bringing them to the present moment. The magnifying loupe acted as a bridge that connected me to the revolutionaries. It seems that their gaze has been waiting for my eyes for decades, filtering through a multitude of lenses and eyes before reaching me. They wanted to be recorded in history by a camera, and I tried to honour their desire for immortality.
Amin Yousefi (Iran, 1996) lives and works in London. He holds an MA in Documentary Photography from the University of Westminster. He has participated in several international group exhibitions, awards, and prizes. His recent project, “Eyes Dazzle as They Search for the Truth”, was selected as a finalist of the Carte Blanche Awards at Paris Photo in 2022. His work has been published in magazines such as Aperture, Hapax, and Source. Yousefi has also undertaken compelling commission works, including the project “Ruderal Acts, Gardening Beyond the Wall,” showcased as part of the HerMAP Art Project at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium. He was also selected as an Ag Talent for his work titled “Life, Death, and Other Similar Things” in 2019, which was exhibited in a solo show at Ag Galerie. A native of Abadan in the province of Khuzestan, Iran’s most oil-rich region and the scene for Iran’s bloody war with neighboring Iraq, Yousefi’s work deals with themes related to the socio-political landscape, the violence against protests in the Middle East, story-making through hidden archives, effects of war, and how the act of photography can conceptually mirror the structures of these relationships.
Ag Galerie
#3 South Pesyan Street, Valiasr Street,
Tehran, Iran
www.aggalerie.com
Albumen Gallery London – Anna Laza (Romania/France) (Images 12 )
In Romanian photographer Anna Laza’s work the human body is projected on a canvas of body landscapes, which reference and go beyond the genre of act photography. Through expertly composed images, her pictures invite viewers to contemplate the dual nature of the human experience—our physical existence and the intangible depths of our inner selves.
Tattoos are artfully deployed to accentuate and redefine the body’s contours, blending the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical realms. In doing so, they challenge conventional standards of beauty and aesthetics, inviting viewers to embrace the uniqueness and complexity of each individual’s body and life journey.
Albumen Gallery London – Alireza Movahedi (1986 Iran) (Images 13 )
The Iranian photographer lives and works in Teheran. In his work Alireza Movahedi seeks to use the visual medium to address and reflect on fundamental existential questions. His images could be described as psychological landscapes that simultaneously deploy and deconstruct commonly shared symbols and tropes that form part of cultural history.
His images challenge perceptions and invite viewers to question the very nature of reality. This innovative approach has garnered attention from collectors seeking to acquire pieces that transcend conventional artistic norms and offer a glimpse into the future of the medium.
Albumen Gallery London – Niklas Soestmeyer (1988 Germany) (Images 14 )
Berlin based Niklas Soestmeyer is a street photographer – although not in the conventional sense of the genre. People – traditionally a defining aspect of the genre don’t feature very much in his photos. Notwithstanding that, the photos are not entirely devoid of human presence. People might not feature in the frame of the image, but their presence is – sometimes eerily – felt.
Niklas Soestmneyer skillfully operates a colour palette that becomes a characeristic trademark of his photography. His rich and warm colours – often used only sparingly – can be reminiscent of the Kodachrome colours we encounter in Fred Herzog’s photos
Albumen Gallery
The gallery operates online –
Offices: London
www.albumen-gallery.com
ARTITLEDcontemporary Herpen – Dean West (1983 USA) (images 15)
A wide range of environments and character types are explored in the works of Miami-based Dean West. The Australian-born artist who studied at the Queensland College of Art, is best known for his intricate and highly staged photographs that take everyday occurrences beyond the realm of natural reality. Extraordinary in their tonal range, digital clarity, and artistic vision, West’s meticulously choreographed scenes, character studies, and atmospheric landscapes powerfully yet synthetically link needs to desires and documentation to invention. Passionately dedicated to the vast possibilities of digital photography as both a medium and a cultural epoch, West’s narratives draw inspiration from the total diversity offered by the visual arts. While the tableau photography of Stan Douglas and Jeff Wall inform West’s understanding of photography as a form of contemporary communication, the paintings of David Hockney and Edward Hopper provide evident aesthetic direction.
The fictional world of cinema and the functional language of advertising have also clearly left their mark and taught lessons of their own. International brands have embraced West’s vision through partnerships and important clients such as Disney, MTV, Bombay Sapphire, and Fox Sports.
Recognized as one of Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘Top 100 Emerging Photographers’, West has also been honored with ‘Advertising Photographer of the Year’ at the International Loupe Awards and the prestigious ‘Arte Laguna Prize’ in Venice, Italy.
The presented project The Palms is a collection of images and films by Dean West. Originating in Florida, the works contain local character portrayals, landscapes, tableaux constructions, portraits and short films. Pools and Palms and architecture are familiar motifs within his photographs.
The Palms series is a deeper dive into the many aspects of Florida’s culture and daily life.
ARTITLEDcontemporary Herpen – Tom Blachford (1987 Australia) (images 16)
Tom Blachford is a creature of the night. From Palm Springs to Tokyo and Bolivia, the Australian photographer has dwelled patiently in the dark, composing his immaculate studies of moonlit mid-century houses, residential skyscrapers and civil buildings.
Working at the intersection of long exposure photography and exploration of the built environment, Tom Blachford’s fine art photographs seek to transform predictable and known environments into surreal and dreamlike worlds. Obsessed with capturing the moments of clarity, colour and mystery that exist just beyond the limits of our human perception, Blachford explores the ability for his camera to bridge our worlds to dark worlds beyond our reach. Captivated by architecture, not only for its sculptural forms, Blachford’s images of homes, towns and suburbs act as the the stage for unwritten narratives that implore the viewer to script their own drama happening behind the walls of each scene.
Using only existing light sources – the full moon (Midnight Modern), the neon lights of Tokyo (Nihon Noir) or the harsh street lights of LA (Noct Angeles), Blachford hunts for the overlooked cinematic moments in the everyday and works to distil them with a sense of mystery, unease and wonder.
Tom’s work has been featured widely in architectural, art and design press around the world and has been exhibited and collected by art lovers across Australia, Europe and the USA.
The monograph of Midnight Modern series was released in 2017 by New York publisher powerHouse with its second edition in 2021.
Midnight Modern: The launch of the new series of “Midnight Modern” marks a decade of Tom Blachford and his pilgrimage from Australia to the deserts of Palm Springs to chase the light of the full moon. The new series sees iconic pairings such as the re-union of the iconic Meyers Manx buggy driven by Steve McQueen in the Thomas crown affair and McQueens own Palm Springs home which have not been seen together since 1973. The series continues his quest to create cinematic magic combining moonlight, Midcentury Modern architecture, mountains and cars into a timeless tableau that exists in the past, present and future simultaneously.
ARTITLEDcontemporary
Rogstraat 28
5373 AV Herpen
The Netherlands
www.artitledcontemporary.com
Bildhalle Amsterdam/Zurich – Paul Cupido (1976 The Netherlands) (images 17)
Paul Cupido’s way of working is rooted in the desire to let go, using his camera as an extension of his senses, capturing unique moments that reflect the magic of his experience. This approach resonates with “Haiku” in Japanese culture, which emphasizes focusing on the present moment to enhance intuition and potentially lead to sudden enlightenment.
From the early stages of his career, Cupido has been captivated by Japanese culture and philosophy, which he integrates into his artistic language in a free and adaptable manner. His works do not only refer to the visible, but focus on feeling and experience, as in his latest series, developed during his (still ongoing) artist-in-residence at the InCadaqués Photo Festival in Catalonia.
“Swoon”, debuting at Unseen Amsterdam, describes an intense emotion in love, signifying ecstasy or even a sense of unconsciousness. Collaborating with Paris-based photo artist Anna Muller, Cupido embarked on an exploration of this phenomenon in his typical intuitive approach. During his stay in Cadaqués and Port Lligat, Cupido found the lingering presence of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and Gala Dalí (1894-1982) are still present. Gala, self an artist, was not only the wife of the prominent Surrealist, but also his muse. Their love and work story formed the source of inspiration for Cupido. Fascinated by the alliance of male and female potency to unleash new energies, Cupido employed color-intense works to depict the power and convey the connection between human and nature, and elemental forces. In his notion this inseparable connection might lead to “Satori,” an abrupt flash of insight into the essence of all.
Paul Cupido graduated with honors from the Fotoacademie Amsterdam in 2017. Since then, he has published various artist books, including “Searching for Mu” (2017), “Continuum” (2019), and “4 a.m.” (2021)—each one in collaboration with graphic designer Akiko Wakabayashi. Cupido’s work has been exhibited widely, including Paris Photo, Unseen Amsterdam, and the Nordic Light Festival. In 2022, Cupido was invited to be the inaugural artist-in-residence for INSTANTS, the residency program by Château Palmer and Leica. In 2023, he was artist-in-residence at InCadaqués Photo Festival in Catalonia.
Bildhalle
Willemsparkweg 134H
NL-1071 HR Amsterdam
Bildhalle AG
Stauffacherquai 56
CH-8004 Zürich
www.bildhalle.ch
Bradwolff & Partners Amsterdam – Katrin Korfmann (1971 Germany) (images 18 )
Katrin Korfmann shows two new works from the Homo Ludens series. They focus on the importance of imagination and play in our culture and explore the function of play as a cultural connection. Katrin Korfmann: “Play, like art, is a connection between people.” The work Swing shows people dancing in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark Dance is often used as entertainment, but it also has cultural and social meanings, such as expressing emotions, celebrating traditions and strengthening communities. The work Phoenix is set in Amsterdam de Bijlmer and shows children playing during a party at their sports club. Korfmann approaches the locations where she makes her photographic works as biotopes and investigates how people move in that location. She tries to capture the memory of a place by designing a literal image of time. The images are powerful (partly due to their unusual perspectives), usually in the public space and involve the viewer in what is happening in those images.
Katrin Korfmann studied at the Kunsthochschule Berlin and Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she specialized in photography and continued her research with residencies at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Cittadellarte in Biella and the Chinese-European Art Center in Xiamen, China. Her work has been exhibited internationally since the late 1990s.
Bradwolff & Partners Amsterdam – Jaehun Park (1986 Korea) (images 19 ) (also in UNBOUND – have a look at the 7th contrib. )
Jaehun Park shows new video work “Twig Room”, made using 3D scanning technology that translates physical substances into virtual substances, such as polygon structures and point cloud systems (a series of data points in space). Inside the dark concrete room, a single twig slowly rotates, creating a dynamic waterfall. Concrete is a mixture of cement and water that has been used since ancient Egypt and the Roman era. It is the second most widely used substance in the world after water. Park uses hyper-realistic 3D renderings to stage mass-produced objects as vessels of ideology. His virtual works address current problematic events on Earth by zooming in on cleverly chosen metaphors and objects. In his practice he combines digital ready-made objects with natural phenomena. Through the things people produce, he shows how they live and what they feel, believe or think. Park makes three-dimensional computer animations to visualize our reality, which according to him consists of consumerism, a penchant for spirituality. The result is situations, interiors and landscapes that are as beautiful as they are dark.
Jaehun Park studied painting at Seoul National University and did a Master’s in Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. He is exhibited & collected internationally, in public & private collections.
Bradwolff & Partners Amsterdam – Marike Schuurman (1964 The Netherlands) (image 20 )
Marike Schuurman shows works from the series Toxic and Flashback in which reflection on meta perspectives in photography is central. In Toxic, subject and object merge in an investigation into the toxic human footprint of lignite mining. This leads to huge craters in the landscape. These are often filled with water for tourist purposes, among other things. It takes about 20 years for the water to reach a pH value in which life can take place. Until then, the water is too acidic. Schuurman made polaroids of the water surface and developed them in this ‘poisonous’ water. The different pH values of the water, interacting with the acids of the Polaroids themselves, resulted in a variety of texture and color. For Flashback, Schuurman examines the aftermath of photography. Magnified images of discharged or faulty flashbulbs allow us to get a closer look at the potentially destructive power of light. The smooth glass surface becomes mutilated with spherical discoloration, while wires become entangled within. Schuurman focuses on the process, emphasizing the transformation and destruction behind the photo.
Marike Schuurman’s artistic work traverses spaces and landscapes, interweaving them with the fascinating world of photography. It results in an enchanting dance of concepts and sensory impressions. Her images invite reflection on what we see when we look at a photo and what was actually there. Marike Schuurman studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.. She works in Berlin.
bradwolff & partners
lijnbaansgracht 314
1017 wx amsterdam
www.bradwolff-partners.nl
Contour Gallery Rotterdam – Marie Pop (The Netherlands) (images 21 )
Marie Pop (Marie Pop is the pseudonym for the collaboration between Anique Weve 1980 and Inge Aanstoot 1987. Their latest series: ‘Le Studio Perdu’ (2023), combines clay work, studio photography, and painting is used to hint to different points in feminist history and to women’s place in art history. Marie Pop explores the duplicity of meanings. Le Studio Perdu masterfully deceives the audience, challenging what may appear obvious: the era depicted in the artwork, the artist’s identity, or even the role of the viewer. Simultaneously paying homage to the art produced by historical female figures, Marie Pop’s artworks stand as autonomous creations while also referencing the lost female talent in art history. Her body of work that highlights the lost voices and narratives of women, leaving audiences free to draw new storylines.
Contour Gallery Rotterdam – Tijtske Oosterholt (1991 The Netherlands) (images 22 )
Tijtske Oosterholt, searches for the intuitive interaction with nature and the capturing of the static forms of nature such as close-ups of natural processes or minerals, that guide her to find new materials, textures, and combinations.
Her recent series of work: A Continual Unfolding,(2023) is an exploration of the uncontrollable, of giving in to the unknown and an openness to whatever is unfolding before you. By working with Polaroids, with its inherently mysterious character, Tjitske allows herself to be guided by the direction the material wants to take, and to find ways of dealing with this uncertainty. Rather than trying to fight the uncontrollable, she attempts to move along with that which cannot be controlled, finding beauty in whatever is beyond our reach. Through the creation of collages, a constructive interaction with the unexpected and the unfamiliar is established, forming a metaphor for finding peace with the insecurity of what the future might hold. Most of the work on show will never fully be set, making each encounter unique and allowing the viewer to become part of this continuous evolution.
John Devos
Correspondent L’Œil de la Photographie/Eye of Photographie
john.devos01(a)gmail.com
