Unseen 2021

Unseen 2021 
Westergas, Amsterdam, September 17 – 19, stand 37

tegenboschvanvreden proudly presents the work of Tom Callemin (1991, Ostend, BE), Bertrand Cavalier (1989, Tarbes, FR) and Paul Kooiker (1964, Rotterdam, NL) at Unseen 2021.

Opening times:
Friday September 17 from 11 am – 9 pm
Saturday September 18 from 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday September 19 from 11 am – 7 pm

In his new works, artist Tom Callemin plays with the idea of ​​the photographic image as an illusory phenomenon. He uses an old special-effects technique while creating landscapes in a studio setting. Front Screen Projection is an analogue technique that has fallen into disuse but forms the basis for what we now call Green Key. For example, Callemin wanted to build traps in the snow, but for practical reasons it turned out to be more convenient to recreate the landscapes in the studio. The ‘lie’ of the image plays a role in the meaning of the work. Just like the photograph, the animal trap is also a visual illusion: the surface appears differently. With the research in this series, Callemin plays with the notion of abstraction. The white landscape functions as a white canvas on which a structure of lines and shapes can be made to create a perfect composition. In that sense, the work from the Traps series is very close to drawing and [removed];Landscape Study, 2021, also leads to the ‘lie’. The coulisse-like landscape behind the female figure and the twist that light and shadow give to the image, form a beautiful ‘trap’ for the viewer.

Permanent Concern is a series of smartphone photographs made in the Netherlands. The work attests Cavalier’s obsession for urban spaces and their development under a rational thinking. Bricks, concrete and plastic sometimes constitute the physical materiality of the objects that he’s photographing. Using a maximum zoom and monochrome laser prints, Cavalier reveals their inherent structure and shows them activated by people or nature. By doing so, Cavalier highlights failure as a quality of urban planning that gives room for a subjective and personal use among the cities that we [removed];

In recent years Paul Kooiker made a lot of work for fashion brands and magazines in addition to his autonomous work. He has collaborated with brands such as Rick Owens and Marni and published fashion series in [removed] Vogue, Dazed, AnOther Magazine, Vanity Fair, M le Monde, and New York Times Magazine. These fashion assignments offer Kooiker the space to experiment with new ideas for his [removed];

For UNSEEN 2021 Paul Kooiker compiled a selection of images that he photographed for these fashion brands and [removed]; The images gain an extra layer of meaning now they are shown in the context of a gallery and an art [removed];