Roger Ballen currently has a retrospective exhibition at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo

Roger Ballen currently has a retrospective exhibition at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo (www.stenersen.museum.no).
The exhibition will be on view till the 23rd of January, and consists of photographs from the 'Boarding House' series, the 'Outland' series, the 'Shadow Chamber' series. A film - and also 4 images from his most recent body of work, 'The Asylum' are also presented in the show.... enjoy...

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

www.ellen-k.no

Roger Ballen Title: Twirling Wires Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 20. 16+ sold, POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Cascets, 2004 (0932 - 20) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Culmination, 2007, 1174 Size: 80*80 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Lunchtime, 2001 Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 20. 16+ sold, POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Puppies in Fishtanks, 2000 Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 35. Sold 16+ POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Tommy, Samson and a mask Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 35. Sold 25+ POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Sergeant F. de Bruin, Department of Prisons employee, OFS, 1992 Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 35. 25+ sold, POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen Title: Dresie and Casie, Twins, Western Transval 1993 Size: 40*40 cm Limited edition of 35. POR. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen currently has a retrospective exhibition at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo (www.stenersen.museum.no).
The exhibition will be on view till the 23rd of January, and consists of photographs from the 'Boarding House' series, the 'Outland' series, the 'Shadow Chamber' series. A film - and also 4 images from his most recent body of work, 'The Asylum' are also presented in the show.... enjoy...

Roger Ballen (1950), was born in New York City and has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 30 years. His interest in photography dates to when his mother worked as a photo editor with Magnum Photos in New York, and teenager Ballen befriended the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, and Elliott Erwitt.

For many years Ballen worked as a geologist while documenting the small villages of rural South Africa and their isolated inhabitants. Over the past few years Ballen has had well over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, New York’s Gagosian Gallery, and Toronto’s Clint Roenisch Gallery. Ballens work is  included in some 30 different museum collections.

Boarding House shows an imaginary space of transient residence, of coming and goings, of people sheltering in a strange place they are using for their immediate survival, furnished with objects that are necessarily for an elementary existence as well as mysterious items whose significance is impossible to discern. In the theme of his other photography projects, Boarding House emphasizes the absence of human presence and shows obscured bodies, animals and hand-drawn faces whose minimal identifying characteristics initiate an immediate, visceral response. “It is difficult to explain this place,” Ballen said, “except that I think it exists in some way or another in most people’s mind.”

In reviewing Ballen’s work , American Photo noted his “rich, penetrating vision” and that he has “developed a style of image-making that is firmly rooted in the documentary tradition of the great mid-century storytellers.” Art in America called his photographs “Stark, visceral images that hark back to vintage Walker Evans and also have some of the surreal strangeness of Diane Arbus’s portraits of social misfits.”

Enjoy this audio interview at LensCulture

ellen-k syverstad | +47 9133 2343

post@ellen-k.no | www.ellen-k.no

Border District/Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum

`Moksha` 2007-2010

`Moksha`; -the liberation from the cycle of rebirth and of all suffering and limitation of wordly existence.

” The way the world celebrates birth, we celebrate death. We witness deaths on a daily basis and there will be another life after this. Crying over this is foolishness” , ler Bhairav Nath Shukla, som er innhaver av et av `Moksha` husene i den hellige byen. I Hinduismen er døden en befrielse. (Kanskje få inn at dette skjer på filmen???)

Menneskets tilstand og lengsel etter noe større har blitt et gjennomgående tema i mine prosjekter som jeg formidler i form av film, installasjon og fotografi i gallerier og museer.

I  prosjektet `Moksha,` utforsker jeg mine egne undringer i tema døden og om døende mennesker som har valgt å ende sine dager i et hospits i Banares, India. Ventingen, overganger mellom liv og død, og det siste store eksistensielle spørsmålet kommer i fokus. Formidlingen består av fotografi, film og installasjon hvor metaforer, brutal virkelighet og individuelle sannheter møtes. Prosjektet tar for seg det mystiske aspektet rundt døden, tro,  riter, tabuer, sinnets uro og, ikke minst, det å leve.

`Moksha` er en tilstand, en frigjøring fra livshjulet, ved å bli kremert i Varanasi ved den hellige elven Ganges.

Denne byen er det aller helligste for Hinduer, og pilegrimer har valfartet hit gjennom tusener av år.

Mange aspekter ved døden kan virke drømmende og fjernt siden vi vet så lite om hva som er på den andre siden.

Mitt ønske er å formidle en bevisstgjøring som inviterer til refleksjoner rundt et av de siste store tabuer i vår tid.

`Moksha` handler jo om deg og meg. Om vår bevissthet rundt det evige, ubesvarte spørsmål som er et like mystisk tema som det har vært siden mennesket ble til.

Ved å bli noe mer komfortable med at vi en dag skal dø, evner vi kanskje å kunne leve mer. Jeg er ganske sikker på at vi blir påvirket i vår underbevissthet når vi unngår å snakke om døden.

Mitt håp er at folk får en smak av indre stillhet og tid til ettertanke ved å vende blikket innover i møte med dette sanselige stoffet.

`Moksha er ikke en dokumentar om India eller Hinduismen. Den gir ingen svar til hverken hvordan det er å dø eller hvor sjelen reiser videre. Den handler om individuell sannhet og betraktninger.  Jo lengre jeg har jobbet med dette prosjektet, jo mer nødvendig har det vært å tråkke utenfor min egen komfortsone for å kunne formidle mitt prosjekt.

Den viser mennesker som har valgt å ta imot en norsk fremmed fotograf, i ett av deres mest personlige øyeblikk i livet.

Bildene viser også metaforer for det de vil møte snart. Overgangen mellom livet og døden.

Dette arbeidet er for meg veldig personlig og det har tatt meg lang tid å finne en måte å uttrykke meg på.

I Banares er jeg en fremmed, samtidig som jeg føler meg fullstendig i live blant brennende lik og døende. Følelsen av å jobbe med det uslipte, ekte og intime er noe av det som gjør at jeg kommer tilbake til dette området gang på gang.

Filmen er for det meste sentrert i et eneste rom i et `Moksha` hus ved en av kremasjonsplassene i Banares, hvor folk kommer for å dø og bli kremert.

Jeg har bevisst valgt å konsentrere prosjektet i et så lite område som mulig for å belyse dette enorme tema.

Utdrag fra intervjuer med døende blir satt til liv som åpne metaforer i film og fotografi, hvor jeg tolker deres tanker rundt døden gjennom samtaler jeg selv har hatt med de. Ventingen er en viktig del av dette prosjektet og kan gi en følelse av urolighet. Som mange av scenene fra Stanley Kubrick sine filmer, skaper dette en motsetning som forsterker budskapet.

Gjennom hele prosjektet kommer vi stadig tilbake til skikkelser som har hatt stor betydning for meg. En ung `sadhu` lærling som har prøvd å ta sitt eget liv mange ganger og som nå passer sin far. Hans epileptisk lignende anfall i portretteringen gir rom for overganger. En gammel dame som er klar for å ta imot døden så lenge hun kan dø akkurat i dette huset. En helligmann som snakker om karma og menneskets samvittighet som det aller viktigste i livet, ikke religion. Dette blir vist i filmen gjennom en vekt som brukes til å veie opp treverk til kremasjonene. Vekten tilsvarer en menneskekropp og punktet hvor de to nålene i vekten møtes symboliserer dette.

Hinduene ser på døden som en like naturlig del av livet, som å bli født. Kremasjon er det siste ritualet, av seksten, som en troende skal gjennom iløpet av livet. Det første rituale er å bli født. Å dø i hellige Varanasi er en lettelse og for de som ikke har råd til å ta seg inn på et eget rom blir et fellesrom delt. Det er her jeg har tilbrakt mest tid.  Her får alle et lite skap hver til sine siste eiendeler.

Felles for alle som ender sine liv her, er at de alle har en følelse om hva som kommer: Å slippe livets sirkel. Å endelig få komme `hjem`.

Dette prosjektet er også relatert til min egen opplevelse med å få døden tett innpå meg gjennom min bestefar.

Å dele sin ventetid på sitt dødsleie i lang tid var en sterk opplevelse for meg. Samtaler og det uslipte som kom ut av dette har preget meg på en positiv måte. Han døde til slutt av alderdom etter å ha levd et fantastisk optimistisk og balansert liv. Han har blitt et stort forbilde for meg.

Mitt arbeid med  Dalai Lama og det Tibetanske folket i India og Nepal har også bidratt til en annen følelse av døden. Her er livet ofte blir sett på som en stor forberedelse til døden. Ritene forbundet med det eldgamle Bardo Thodol, `de dødes bok` blir brukt som et verktøy i moderne tid for å lede døende videre. Denne kontrasten til mitt eget samfunn er både enorm og fascinerende.

Jeg er også fascinert av mennesket som betrakter. Urørlige voyeuristiske skikkelser står som tause vitner i kontrast til ilden fra de mange kremasjonene på kvelden.

Lavkastearbeiderne som kalles `untouchables`, yter stor respekt for sitt tunge arbeid og ansvar med kremasjonene. De at disse menneskene flokker til på kvelden for å bli påminnet sin egen vei mot døden og, om hvordan de lever sine liv.

Kremasjonsområdet minner meg alltid om `Dantes Inferno` og `The Last Judgement` av den hollanske maleren Hieronymus Bosch(f.1450). Kaos blant mennesker, dyr, ild og røyk dominerer, men allikevel er det et mål og orden.

Mokshahuset står som et enormt 30-talls teaterkulisse i bakgrunnen av kremasjonene med sine vinduer som stjeler lys fro omverden. Dette er og det eneste bygget som gjør det. Kullsvarte hull i `The City of Light`. En av verdens eldste byer.

Installasjonen:

Installasjonen som følger med filmen(og fotografiene) viser to krukker med hver sin vekt av elementer. I beholderene er to av de universelle fem elementene som er med i prosessen ved å føre et menneske tilbake til utgangspunktet. Nemlig aske og vann.

Elementet vann: Moder Ganga

Den ene beholderen inneholder vann fra Ganges i Banares, som anses å være utgangspunktet til alt liv ifølge de troende. Vannet representerer det ikke-fysiske.

Menneskekroppen består av 75 % vann og dette fordamper når kroppen brenner opp i høy varme.

Elementet jord: Asken

Den andre beholderen består av aske fra kremasjonsområdet i det samme området der prosjektet er laget. Denne asken tilsvarer det som er igjen av et gjennomsnittsmenneske i vekt etter å ha blitt kremert og representerer det fysiske ved kroppen.

Dette også en visuell påminnelse som kan hjelpe betrakteren til å stille sine egne spørsmål.

Forbindelsen mellom vannet og asken er viktig. Dette forbindes gjennom filmen som vises mellom de to krukkene på utstillingen.

 Det bevegelige (filmen)  kan sees som livet imellom to faser. En bevegelse eller overgang. Aske brukes i de mange seremonier rundt om i verden og spres ofte for at individet skal komme tilbake til et utgangspunkt. Jorden, vinden, vannet osv. Elementene spiller en sentral rolle i alt som omgir oss.

Jeg spør meg selv hvor mange alternativer som finnes om hva som skjer videre med oss etter døden ? Blir man dømt for sine handlinger og hvordan virker `the Law of Karma`. Finnes det en universell definisjon av døden uavhengig av tro, religion og  levemåte ?

For menneskene som jeg har jobbet med i hospitsene handler det om å komme hjem til kilden og den hellige Moder Ganga, den ultimate renselsen. Å slippe lidelse ved å ikke bli gjenfødt...

Asken er det reneste for Hinduer og brukes som symbol for renhet i alle seremonier.

Jorden, vinden, vannet osv. Elementene spiller en sentral rolle i alt som omgir oss.

Hinduene snakker ikke om døden slik vi gjør i `The City of Light`. De sier at man kun forandrer form.

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

http://www.haugar.com/

Roger Balllen

Roger Ballen

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Intertwined 2007 (1170 - 36) Size: 80*80 cm Limited edition of 10 Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Prying 2007 (1182 - 63) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Pricles, 2002, (0516 - 6) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Stalked, 2005 (1062 - 18) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Cascets, 2004 (0932 - 20) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Metamorphosis, 2006 (1222 - 14) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Boarder, 2005 (1083 - 47) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Clinging(1090 - 31) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist: Roger Ballen Title: Overview, 2006 (1127 - 64) Size: 50*50 cm Limited edition of 10. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Roger Ballen (1950), was born in New York City and has lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, for 30 years. His interest in photography dates to when his mother worked as a photo editor with Magnum Photos in New York, and teenager Ballen befriended the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, and Elliott Erwitt.

For many years Ballen worked as a geologist while documenting the small villages of rural South Africa and their isolated inhabitants. Over the past few years Ballen has had well over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, New York’s Gagosian Gallery, and Toronto’s Clint Roenisch Gallery. Ballens work is  included in some 30 different museum collections.

Boarding House shows an imaginary space of transient residence, of coming and goings, of people sheltering in a strange place they are using for their immediate survival, furnished with objects that are necessarily for an elementary existence as well as mysterious items whose significance is impossible to discern. In the theme of his other photography projects, Boarding House emphasizes the absence of human presence and shows obscured bodies, animals and hand-drawn faces whose minimal identifying characteristics initiate an immediate, visceral response. “It is difficult to explain this place,” Ballen said, “except that I think it exists in some way or another in most people’s mind.”

In reviewing Ballen’s work , American Photo noted his “rich, penetrating vision” and that he has “developed a style of image-making that is firmly rooted in the documentary tradition of the great mid-century storytellers.” Art in America called his photographs “Stark, visceral images that hark back to vintage Walker Evans and also have some of the surreal strangeness of Diane Arbus’s portraits of social misfits.”

 

interview with, and photographs by
Roger Ballen

http://www.lensculture.com/ballen-video.html

Okurimono by Christian Houge

OKURIMONO, Title: Patchinko Hall, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2009, Sizes ca 50*70 and ca Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 6 or 4 + artist copy. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title: Forest, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2009, Sizes 66*200 or 100*300, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 6 or 4 + artist copy. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title: The Entrance, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2009, Sizes 66*200 or 100*300, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 6 or 4 + artist copy. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title: Ueito, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY or 5 + 2 artist copies.

OKURIMONO, Title: Uma-Hitsu, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7 or 5 + 2 artist copies. Courtey ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title:Uma-Hitsu 2, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY or 5 + 2 artist copies.

OKURIMONO, Title: Sentaku, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY or 5 + 2 artist copies.

OKURIMONO, Title: Nozomi, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY.

OKURIMONO, Title: Uma-Kanata, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY or 5 + 2 artist copies.

OKURIMONO, Title: Kyouki, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 66*100 or 100*300 cm, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7 or 5 + 2 artist copies. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title: Gaijo-Edo, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7 or 5 + 2 artist copies. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

OKURIMONO, Title: Idami, Tokyo, Artist: Christian Houge, Year of origin 2010, Sizes 50*70 or 90*120, Technique: C-print mounted on aluminium with plexi front, Limited edition of 7 or 5 + 2 artist copies. Courtesy ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Okurimono by Christian Houge

“Since I started photographing in 1994, I’ve explored what lies within Man and that which is innately difficult to grasp. Man’s identity never ceases to fascinate me. My artwork is reflected through an internal process conveyed in an external expression through photography and film. I often invite the viewer to explore his own thoughts on some of the surviving taboos of our time. The projects are an exploration of topics including old age, death and sexual identity, where I find Mans longing for something larger than him/herself to be a recurring theme. At the moment I am working on two independent projects simultaneously. `Moksha` in India [2007-2010]; is the act of release from the continuous cycle of birth, death & rebirth. This project explores the dying process, and one of the last questions Man has yet to pinpoint, where the human condition and the individual’s belief is the main focal point. `Okurimono` in Japan is defined as `that which is in-between`, and encompasses a project which has evolved through five trips to Japan. The images revolve around dreams, vulnerability, darkness and brutal truths. In these four years of work I have gone further and further beyond my own comfort zone in the quest of truths. Truths that are troubling and difficult to be confronted with for many souls.

The first part of the project focuses on Japanese sub-culture, the Harajuku and their own search for a unique expression. Where dissonance between object and Man, in architecture and nature, is a recurring theme.

In the second part of the project I explore various expressions of sexual identity. Our digital society is drained of wonderment and any sense of the mysticism. Many aspire this in their everyday lives. The `okamas`- the transsexual `new halves` of Tokyo’s underground live out their complex truths in ritualized isolation. Many might see this as a threat to conventional gender categorizations, which substantiates the basis of our society. Reality and dreams, the ritualistic and play blend, in which the frail parameters between the known and the unknown dissolve. The film gives the project an extra dimension for the senses, where experimental and ritual inspired settings reveal truths between pleasure and discomfort.”

Christian Houge (1972) lives and works in Oslo, Norway. His work has been exhibited at Paris Photo, Photo London and Art Basel, as well as solo shows in London, Oslo, New York and San Fransisco. Houges latest solo show was ‘Arctic Technology’ at Hosfelt Gallery in San Fransisco in march 2009. His photographs have been commissioned by the Norwegian Defence Ministry, Museum of Nevada, and large private collectors, and auctioned at Sotherby’s in London. Houge is involved in several humanitarian projects, and has recieved several arts grants from the Norwegian Artists Fund.  He participated in the group-show ‘AntArctica’ at Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum in September 2009, and he has been invited back to Haugar in september 2010, to show  ‘Moksha’  – a new video installation.

Houges most recent body of work; ‘Okurimono’  is now on show for the first time at the ‘7th Lane’ exhibition in Oslo, by ellen-k.

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Robert Sannes "ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY"

Girl, Brazil, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2005, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper, EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Girl, Norway, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2005, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper, EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Nymph VII, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2006, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas, limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Nymph IV, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2006, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas, limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Nymph V, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2006, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas, limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Nymph I, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2006, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper EDITION/SET OF:20, photograpy printed on canvas, limited ed of 8. Fine art paper limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)

Four people, Marrakesch, ARTIST: Robert Sannes, WORK DATE: 2004, MATERIALS: Photography on canvas or photography on fine art paper, EDITION/SET OF:20, SIZE:130 x130 photograpy printed on canvas limited ed of 8. Fine art paper 75 x 75 limited ed of 12, STYLE: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present),

Robert Sannes

Sannes is an architect by education, but over the recent years fine art photography and lecturing has grown into his all time profession.

Robert Sannes is concerned with the paradigm shift of our time, and of how we are able to process this shift. Through his art, and also through holding workshops, he focuses on how we can create a sustainable intention and consciousness in an affirmative and inspiring way, both on a personal and global level. In his simple and poetic photographs, Robert Sannes moves on the boarder line between reality and the visionary. He invites us to think outside the box, and to expand our visions into the intuitive.

Sannes creates workshops held in exotic and remote venues around the world, and through the exposure to culture, art history, creativity, and also through the processes of the fellow photographers Sannes offers the participants the opportunity of self-exploration

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

William Ropp

DARKROOMS IN NORTHERN LIGHT presents the French artist William Ropp - enjoy his work at 7th LANE - Photography from heaven and hell , Lilleakerveien 4B, Oslo.


Opening hours thursday-sunday 12-5 PM.

EARLIER WORK

"EW9" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered.

"EW8" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered

"EW7" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered.

"EW6" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered

"EW4" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered

"EW3" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered.

"EW2" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered.

"EW1" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered.

"Chess Player" Artist: William Ropp, Technique: Black and white toned silver gelatin print. Size 40*50 (ed 10), 50*60 (ed 12), 100*120 (ed 8) printed by the artist, signed and numbered

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

William Ropp

(lives and works in Nancy, France)

William Ropp is known for the unique style in which he captures the mysterious aspects of human nature. Placing his subjects in absolute darkness during extended exposures, he uses a flashlight to paint a magical effect of illumination and shadow in what he calls ‘The dance of light’. ”My pictures were influenced by me working at the theatre, and I struggled to liberate myself from theatrical expression. This continued until I stopped using actors as models, replacing them with ordinary people I met.” Ropp often works in a studio, using a powerful torch as illumination, forcing him to expose for as long as ten minutes. In the darkness the models have little to focus on, and their stare is redirected towards the viewer. Seemingly coming from a different time, these human beings unify ancient mysteries and timeless questions in their appearances. William Ropps images takes us to different levels of reality and invites the viewer to occupy with the anthropological question of being and non-being. In his portraits of children their facial expression does not fit in the presentation of the ever-cheerfull child. The viewers childhood emotions and memories might be awakened.

Ropp produces his own richly toned, traditional gelatin silver prints. His photographs have been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries around the world, and his work has been published in several books including one devoted to the Children series, as well a twenty-year retrospective, and the recently published “Dreamt memories from Africa” (april 2010)