Work
Images
Information
| The images that I make consist of often unlogical combinations of materials, patterns, colours, forms, with my head as the only constant factor. Each element is consciously chosen so as to affect a pre-determined transformation. By playing with the value of the each material and by using them for a purpose that was not originally intended for them, I construct within the image, in a very small way, a different perspective on the world.
In most cases it is my head that is the carrier of these transformations and combinations. The expressionless, and almost universal face, allows the viewer to project himself onto the work. Because the works have really existed and have not been digitally manipulated, each image contains a short history of a performance. Repetition is a theme I find very interesting as you can use it for different ends. By for example using the same head and facial expression, the person slowly becomes of secondary importance to the form. The elements that remain constant lose their value and the elements that change, become the subject of the work. In this way I create a shift in the hierarchy of values. The commonplace notion of the ‘aesthetic’ image is that which is free of unsatisfactory characteristics and general human imperfections. This in my opinion is the most superficial form of beauty. In my work I attempt to create a different form of aesthetic. |
The unusual and unimpressive materials, traces of glue and other imperfections that exist in the production of the work are what form the aesthetic value in my image. This revaluation of these normally insignificant elements only occurs because they now exist in a new context that distances them from their original circumstances and associations. During this process I became more and more aware that all objects, materials, events are assigned a commonly held value, but that this valuation could just as easily be different. It was those elements that nobody had an opinion about that then became most interesting to me. Because they seem to contain little meaning to people, they are malleable and can easily have their perceptions about them altered. My work amounts to small researches into the valuations we assign to the things around us and the associations they engender in this way. Although these underlying reasons are not immediately apparent in the work, a very specific unsettling reaction is invoked in the viewer. Although the cause of this reaction is a mere piece of grey carpet, it is logical that people react to it in this way as the viewer is essentially forced to review his commonly-held notions about this material. The image succeeds in shifting the viewer’s perception, be it in a very small way and about an unimportant subject. |
