‘Approximately four years ago, I found an old house in Johannesburg, South Africa. This place has become the focus of my photography for the past few years since the completion of my book Boarding House in 2008. Inside this house live a motley bunch of people from various spectrums of South African society. Living along with these people are large numbers of wild birds that inhabit this space and exist alongside the inhabitants. The birds are not in cages and have the freedom to move throughout the place. Most rooms in this house are quite barren and the inhabitants have taken to drawing figures and faces on the walls. Besides the birds, the place is full of rats, mice, cats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, etc. The Asylum is ultimately a place in which reality blurs with fantasy. Objects, drawings and spaces interact to create multiple meanings very few which we can find words for.

I have specifically chosen the word Asylum as the title to the proposed book as it has contradictory meanings. On one hand it represents a place of refuge and safety, and on the other hand a place of insanity.’

During 2012 Roger Ballen will have one man exhibitions at the following Museums:

• Manchester Art  Gallery, England
• Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany
• Northwest University Museum, Potchefstroom, South Africa
• Novosibirsk Art Museum, Russia
• Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
• Musee de l Elysee, Lausanne Switzerland
• Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
• Rosphoto, St. Peterburg, Russia
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

In the month of January Roger Ballen has completed two films. The first one, sponsored by the Dutch film Fund documents aspects of the Asylum using a narrative format, the second is a music video on the South African band Die Antwoord who has integrated his visual symbolism into their presentation. The New York Times documented the photo shoot and published the article ‘Johannesburgs most wanted‘. The video, ‘I Fink U Freeky’ has had over 600.000 hits in two days on YouTube.

The ‘Sculptor of Shadows’ William Ropp was present during the opening of his exhibition at MEP in Paris last week. There was a long line of people waiting to enter the museum, while  the crème de la crème of the Parisian intellectual Left crowded around Mr Ropp and former Minister of Culture in France, Mr Jacques Lang.  The Maison Européenne de la Photographie, situated in the historic heart of Paris, is a major centre for contemporary photographic art. Since February 1996 it has housed an exhibition centre, a large library, an auditorium, and a video viewing facility with a wide selection of films. It is designed to make the three fundamental photographic media (exhibition prints, the printed page, and film) easily accessible to all.

The exhibition lasts until 25th of March, and  presents a selection of about twenty photographs from his 20-year career. Here, there, and everywhere, from the revealing darkness of the studio to the vast open spaces of Africa and the villages of Mexico, he teases out the threads of an obsession for man devoid of all artifice, for the dark, deformed flesh of desire and for anxious or sunny childhood. Today, after over 20 years working in black and white, William Ropp has produced colour portraits where both the pose and the technique are inspired by classical painting.

The book ‘Faces’ published by Les éditions de l’oeil comprising Ropp´s most recent color work was launched in conjunction with the exhibition at MEP, and we are proud to present a selection of the portraits together with the incredible foreword ‘The Morning of Childhood’ by Mr Arno Minkkinen … enjoy…

The exhibition is produced jointly by the Charleroi Museum of Photography with support from the ellen-k Fine Art Photography, Oslo. (Text derived from MEP)

‘If you are in Oslo this summer,  the provocative exhibition /HIGHSPEED INSANiTY/ at Blomqvist is a must!’ (Lars Eivind Bones in Magasinet, Dagbladet).

Steinar Christensen, Christian Houge and Anders Petersen are featured in Risør Kunstpark this summer.  In addition, Tom Hatlestads exhibition “Tracing Freedom” will be on show in Fredsparken.

The sales exhibition at Blomqvist is open from June 14th to August 14, 2011

Roger BALLEN / Martin DENKER /  Sally MANN /  Vik MUNIZ  /  Andres SERRANO and

Joel Peter WITKIN

ASYLUM BY ROGER BALLEN

The exhibition /HIGH SPEED INSANITY/ presents six independent artists.  Their common denominator is their ability to deconstruct in order to construct, where photography is used as the form of artistic expression.

They all use recognizable references from the arts. In Witkin´s work one sees the older masters such as Botticelli, Possein and Courbet, in adjacent to the influence of Francisco Goya and Edvard Munch. The latter artists are also easily recognizable in Serrano´s provocation of religion.  In Denker’s work one traces the influence that the collage artists have of the 20’s & 30’s such as Juan Miro, Max Ernst and later Ernst Schwitters. Roger Ballen´s world of the subconscious is often compared to Man Ray´s sense of form, revealing Ballen´s interest in Jean Dubuffet´s ‘Art Brut’. Even the classic sculptors such as Henry Moore and David Smith are prevalent in the exceptional works by Vic Muniz. In contrast, poetry and 19^th century photographers such as Julia Margareth Cameron and Eugene Atget have been Sally Mann´s source of inspiration in capturing the sensual innocence.

The artists investigate their environment and offer the viewer the option to individual interpretation. The intention of the exhibition is to gather a collection of artwork to challenge our illusions in order to fuel a debate.

“…Maybe these photographs can help us navigate through the obstacles of life? There are a lot of good opportunities in sound provocation. Good art raises questions, tears down borders and questions our ability to see and understand. It makes us reconsider our values and approach to life and other people. As long as it is not based on violence or abuse most things may be considered human. As Terentius, a roman playwright living from 190-159 BC, said: «I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me.»”//excerpt from the catalogue text by Lars Elton 

The title /HIGH SPEED INSANITY/ is a Martin Denker quote, and the exhibition is a result of a collaboration between PUG, the collector Jack Helgesen and Blomqvist Fine Art.

PUG opens the exhibition ‘HIGH SPEED INSANITY’ at Blomqvist Auction House, June 15th at 6 PM. A full day seminar ‘Who holds the power to Collect’ will take place at Fotogalleriet and at Blomqvist on June 22nd.

PUG [Pop Up Gallery] is run by Ellen-K Syverstad & Anette Skuggedal, facilitating exhibitions & events where photography is the main form of artistic expression.

More information will follow… enjoy…

The image “no 1″ is the first image in a new body of work titled “Blind Shepard”. The project is pure concept art, based on long studies, thorough planning and a synthesis of many years of thinking around aesthetic questions. When the whole composition is ready in the mind of the artist, he calls his photographer, Gunnar Mjaugedal, who under thorough – but silent – instruction helps mr Christensen to visualize his projects. We will post more “Blind Shepard” images shortly.

Also Mr Christensen has, for the first time in his long artistic career, operated a camera himself. The results have been presented at a couple of venues in Norway  already, and we are pleased to post them here aswell. We present a landscape image that slowly transforms into a portrait of a chinese child. Finally the “Naxi musicians” – a collage consisting of portraits of 8 traditional musicians in China, mounted so they surround an image of the highway leading in to Beijing. The fog in the mountains of Li Jang and Beijing ties the motifs together in a fragile filter, in which the opposites are tied together in one unit.

ellen-k FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY and Bilder NORDIC SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY invites you to an evening with Arno Minkkinen. Give yourself a break in your pre-christmas preparations and join us at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, Monday December 13th at 7PM…

‘What the camera sees at the moment of exposure is what I try to envision in my mind. Therein lies the magic of photography for me. It’s why it is always Christmas in my darkroom.’ Arno Rafael Minkkinen.

Free admission – reserve you chair by clicking HERE.

Enjoy…

(click on invitation to enlarge)

I am back in Norway, and it’s time to sort my impressions from the worlds leading event for photography, Paris Photo. Beneath the prestigious Louvre Pyramid, a 3.000 m2 showcase with 120 exhibitors, galleries, publishers and magazines from 25 different nationalities was visited by more than 40.000 people this weekend. Paris Photo is  the place to explore and indulge into the wonderful world of fine art photography. Paris is also an amazing city if you want to meet up with good old friends,  to make some new ones, and generally to have a great time. This is my personal notebook and I would love to share with you.

Two of the exhibits mentioned in this note are still on in Paris if you plan on going… enjoy…

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