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Eelco Brand (1969~)
Eelco Brand was born in 1969 in the Netherlands. In
1993 he exhibited various painting and computer animation
works around Europe. His works deals with the subject
of nature and the beauty of the natural world created
through media. His intended process in creating his
art work is all about what we observe in this world,
hence what we see and what we do not see.
In the early 1990s, he abandons the medium of painting,
which he had dedicated himself to, and makes use of
innovative new media - scanned photographs and computer
animated work. Eelco Brand’s intention was to abandon
himself from the purely brushwork technique of painting
and make a start in works using 3D software. His interest
lies in the endless and varied nature and his animation
works focus on continuity and progression. Eelco Brand’s
work can be called to be “more of a framed painting
than film production.”
Critics have highly praised
Eelco Brand’s works by describing them as “painting
in movement.” The role of the pixel and computer mouse
which can be seen in his works is a replacement of
the brush and pigment. This can be called to be the
artist’s final digital touch which is a result of his
continuing effort and time.
Leta Peer (1964~)
The Swiss artist Leta Peer studied painting in Schule
fur Gestalung in Basel, Switzerland. For Leta Peer
the genre of painting is slower than photography
but it has become the first methodological step in
creating her work. Her active career is reflected
in her photographic works which is overall a project
that shows both pictures drawn and taken. The photographic
manner she undergoes hence becomes her unique painting
methodology.
In the beginning of 2005, Leta Peer traveled to Augsberg
and there when she had visited the room which she was
planning to have an exhibition, she came up with the
title “To Inhabit a Place.” The artist took a photograph
of the 18th century Rococo palace Schaezlerpalais which
was being renovated. Afterwards she had combined the
setting with her painting of the mountainous Swiss
landscape which she had completed. She makes such a
display in order to bring out the hidden but interesting
dialogue between painting and photograph, and between
nature and culture.
The artist puts herself in the spatial breadth of
the place and works within its limited boundary. Also,
before she includes herself in the architectural construction
of space she tries to include herself in the pure moment
that captures the situation she is mostly interested
in, and also most appropriate for her. The sentimental
element in the space defines the artist’s concrete
experience. Furthermore, the mountain that is presented
in her work is symbolically a peaceful and silent place.
Yun Lee (1967~)
In 2006, Gallery Lumiere started LIPA (Lumiere
International Photography Award) with the intention
of building a platform for young, creative and
innovative artists. The idea behind the award
is to actively support their artistic career
by generous funding and open doors for them to
gain an international reputation.
Yun Lee studied at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. She was
named as the best student by Jannis Kounellis, a master
in sculpture and installation work. With Thomas Ruff’s
recommendation, her tutor as well as international
photographer, she had become LIPA’s first winner.
Yun Lee, an artist who is actively building a career
in Germany, produces works that are both sentimental
and philosophical. Her ‘Private World’ series was started
in 2004 and this deals with the most traditional fine
art genre; portrait and still life. By using the two
genres she produces works that are reborn as visual
art with a new form which has a visual harmony. Yun
Lee analyses, captures and explains the female models’
private world, and this is reproduced in her photography.
However, in reality the truth we see in the photographic
work is not the private world of the female models
but a reinterpreted display of the artist’s world.
Josef Schulz (1966~)
At Kunstakademie Dusseldorf Josef Schulz studied
under Bernd Becher and Thomas Ruff, two renowned
figures in German photography. Josef Schulz is a
new artist who has made a contribution in the German
contemporary photography lineage.
If artists who precede him had made icons of modern
society through their photographic works on architecture,
then the rigid and limited form and colour shown in
buildings that are displayed in Josef Schulz’s work
makes us think of painterly work on the buildings’
surface and its lines. The objects shown in his photographic
works are those from a fourth dimension, and here only
the building in its pure form and its setting remain.
Everything which hints the building’s name, the people
who use the building, passing vehicles and time itself
is all removed.
For Josef Schulz, the pressing of the shutter is not
the last. He takes photographs in an analogue method,
and then with digital technology he makes the subjects
in his work to be more structural and abstract. This
method itself is an artistic ‘act’ and it is only after
going through this process that he believes his work
can be regarded as a perfect piece of art work.
In the artist’s photographic works, nothing of the documentary
and informative role can be seen. In contrast he throws
the question of the ‘reality/truth’ behind photography
and he stresses the importance of the use of digital
processing. The real architectural images become unreal
as it is passed through digital process. For the artist,
this process is also a solution to how he can include
his creativity, sentiments and philosophy.
Loretta Lux (1969~)
“Photography, now in its second decade or so on this
new technological juggernaut, has become a logical
vehicle for bringing together elements from all realms
(Diana C. Stoll on ‘Loretta Lux’)”
After the 1990s, German photography began to have
a soaring reputation worldwide. Recently works by the
new generation from the Old East German origin which
uses digital technology has been active in the field
of photography, and has received much attention.
Loretta Lux’s portrayal on the depiction of children
is neither childlike nor realistic. The children portrayed
in her photographs are transformed into freakish and
even disturbing portraits. On close examination the
children carry a bizarre and retro charm. This mixture
of positive and negative elements makes her works to
be rather seductive, where these mysterious and frightening
images of children seem to be strangely perfect. Loretta
Lux’s isolated children are arranged in stark landscapes
and interiors.
The German photographer Loretta Lux’s works has its
origins in digital manipulation. She executes her compositions
using a combination of photography, painting and digital
manipulation. With the use of Photoshop she lightens
the background which gives a peculiar paleness to the
children. Each child is beautiful and fascinating in
their own flawed way.
Loretta Lux describes her own work as “imaginary portraits”.
She claims that creativity is something that makes reality
which is different to memory and imagination.
Irving Penn (1917~)
The established and well-known American photographer
Irving Penn was born in 1917. For 60years he had
worked for Vogue as a commercial photographer and
he dealt with exceptional quality a variety of genres
including still life, portraiture and fashion photography.
Irving Penn has been working with the ‘flower’ genre
for over forty years. He examines and captures the
biological wonder of each specimen elegantly and gracefully.
Irving Penn’s flowers are statements of fact. He captures
the images as much as the lens can record with sincerity
and honesty. Each stem, petal and stamen is recorded
as if taken by an X-ray.
Irving Penn’s flowers are displayed with striking
clarity and precision. Beyond this display of clarity
there are moments in each composition where Penn’s
objective study becomes poetic contemplation. The compositional
beauty and the completeness of the print depict the
subjects found at the penultimate moment before their
expiration. The capturing of these moments speaks to
us about mortality itself.
His works belong to major museums in American and around
the world, including the Museum of Modern Art; New York,
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, and the
National Gallery of Art; Washington.
Teun Hocks (1947~)
Teun Hocks was born in the Netherlands and he is an
artist who constantly thinks about irrationality and
absurdness. The sharp and perceptual images are an
interesting description of the artist’s life story.
The wit, elaborate technique and rich colors of Teun
Hock’s perceptive images combine to form an original
piece of work. Moreover, it is through his painted
photographs that we get a glimpse of his creative working
procedure where drawings as well as other creative
techniques are included.
In his photographic works the artist wears a perfectly
white shirt, suit and a tie and the images seem to
be perceived with a strange, sarcastic but sharp impression.
Paul Hefting, a critic from the Netherlands has pointed
out that the images by Teun Hocks reminds us of 16th
century works of art where everyday subjects are chosen
and where the artist focuses on the suffering found
in our daily lives. Teun Hock’s work can be described
as a type of photographic sarcasm which bridges the
gap between photography and painting.
Furthermore, Teun Hocks works can be seen as a cross
between Rene Magritte’s visual and conceptual puzzles
which shows wit and humor. In his works, the artist focuses
on his individual actions and universal experience. Through
his works Teun Hocks offers humor as enticement as well
as consolation. His works have been exhibited worldwide
around Europe, Asia and North America.
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