Edward Russell
The fourth outing of Amsterdam’s Unseen Photo Fair was a blow out. Not only did the acclaimed fair return with a stellar line up, but they ramped it up with a 10-day festival which stretched across the canal-city and into more than 38 locations. The Unseen Photo Fair is easily one of the most exciting and innovative fairs around, so it is of little surprise that the turnout this year was a grand one. 54 galleries took part in the 2015 fair, many of whom premiered never-before-shown works.
Photo: Unseen Photo Fair (c) Tsuyoshi Yamada
Brimming with creative curiosities, the festival also saw the launch of the second issue of Unseen Magazine, as well as several exciting collaborations between the festival and some of it’s exhibiting artists. Honing it’s growing reputation for being a bit of a creative nucleus, this year’s festival saw the return of such events as the Unseen Living Room, the Unseen Book Market, the Unseen Collection, and the new Artist Recipes – an onsite dining experience where the menu is chosen by one of the exhibiting artists, with their work providing the conversation for the evening.
Here are some of my favourite pieces from the fair:
John Maclean
Hometown of Bridget Riley, Padstow, 2013
Archival Inkjet Print
29 1/2 x 39 2/5 in
75 x 100 cm
Edition of 3
Courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery
John Maclean is a British photographer, and this picture is one in a series he has taken of the hometowns, cities and neighbourhoods of the artists who influence him. The project is called ‘Hometowns’, and the image above is of Padstow in England; the hometown of artist Bridget Riley. Each image is thoughtfully laden with homages to the artists to whom he is paying tribute – such as with the stripes in the skies above Riley’s Padstow.
Melinda Gibson
Untitled III, (Lunar Caustic), 2014
C-Type, Acid, Silver Nitrate
14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery
The ‘Lunar Caustic’ series, of which ‘Untitled III’ is a part, is a collaboration between photographer Melinda Gibson and photography collector Thomas Sauvin. The pair salvaged thousands of negatives from a recycling plant on the edge of Beijing, where x-rays, CDs and negatives are filtered for their silver nitrate content. The title of the work – ‘Lunar Caustic’ – comes from an ancient term used by alchemists.
Maria Friberg
Still Lives 3, 2005
C-print, oak wood frame
Edition 25/25
Courtesy of the artist and Pi Artworks
Swedish artist Maria Friberg trained as a painter, but is a practicing photographer and video artist. The image above is from her 2003-2007 photographic series titled ‘Still Lives’. Of ‘still lives 3 (man in bookshelf)’, Friberg says she has embedded a man in “a context emblematic of the written word, evoking the notion of culture as a masculine force, but subverting the concept of action in the figure’s horizontal pose”.
Tamas Dezso
Forest with Mistletoe (near Oradea, West Romania), 2014
Photography
20 x 24 in
50.8 x 61 cm
Courtesy of the artist and The Photographers’ Gallery.
This image of a West-Romanian forest is from Hungarian photographer Tamas Dezso’s series ‘Notes for an Epilogue’. The series is part of an ongoing body of work which depicts a time of transition in Romania and Hungary, following the fall of Communism in the late ’80’s. Dezso says that his pictures are “a careful examination of the decaying ruins of the Soviet era, their effects on villages, communities and individuals and the slow disappearance of centuries-old traditions”.
Evgenia Arbugaeva
Untitled, from the series Weatherman, 2013
12 3/5 x 20 7/10 x 2/5 in
32 x 52.5 x 1 cm
Courtesy of the artist and The Photographers’ Gallery.
Russian photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva’s series ‘Weather Man’ is inspired by the solitary life of a meteorologist living on a remote peninsular in northern Russia. Arbugaeva photographed the scientist and his surroundings for a period of two weeks, in 2013. Arbugaeva used the fleeting Arctic light to create ‘magical realist’ compositions, and to heighten the sense of space and perspective in her images.
Inka & Niclas
Yet Untitled, 2015
Courtesy of the artist and Grundemark Nilsson Gallery.
The image above is from the series ‘Becoming Wilderness, by Inka & Niclas. The Finnish (Inka)/Swedish (Niclas) duo is based out of Stockholm, and have been working together since 2007. Their ‘Becoming Wilderness’ series is an “exploration of the human perception but also a homage to the photographic medium”.
Pieter Paul Pothoven
Sample 2/1, Sorghpar, Adit #1, from the series ‘Languard’, 2010-2015
Framed C-print
39 2/5 x 31 1/2 in
100 x 80 cm
Edition of 5 + 2AP
Courtesy of the artist and Dürst Britt & Mayhew.
This image by multimedia artist Pieter Paul Pothoven is of the stone Lapis Lazuli. The work is a part of an ongoing research project into the ultramarine mineral found in the mines of Afghanistan; and how it factors politically, culturally and representationally into the contemporary Western culture.
Kim Boske
Bouquets from the golden age, 2015
11 x 8 3/10 in
28 x 21 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Aando Fine Art.
Artist Kim Bokse was born in the Netherlands, and lives and works in Amsterdam. Interested in time and how it affects our perspectives, Boske’s work is frequently focussed on exploring the meanings of time and nature, and the human relationship to them. This image is a series of captures which have been combined to change the impression of the subject, and in turn the perspective gained by the viewer.
Albarrán Cabrera
The Mouth of Krishna, #169, 2015
Platinum Palladium print
Courtesy of the artist and Valid Foto BCN Gallery.
Anna Cabrera and Angel Albarrán together make up Albarrán Cabrera. The Spanish couple have worked together for more than seventeen years, and are based out of Barcelona. The work of Albarrán Cabrera is, the couple say, a means of research which helps the artists to understand the world.
Kyoung-Jae Cho
Class 04-008, 2013
Inkjet print
49 1/5 x 39 2/5 in
125 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Gana Art.
Kyoung-Jae Cho is a South-Korean photographer who is based out of Germany. He creates unique compositions out of everyday objects, and then photographs the brilliant results. The colourful, and often geometrically-inclined spaces are created spontaneously by the artist.
This is just a tiny snapshot of some of the absolutely beautiful works that were on show at this year’s fair. If you’d like to see more, head on over to artsy.net and explore the 2015 Unseen Photo Fair for yourself.
