{"id":68919,"date":"2018-08-01T14:10:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T14:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=68919"},"modified":"2018-08-07T11:26:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T11:26:34","slug":"viviane-sassen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/viviane-sassen\/","title":{"rendered":"Viviane Sassens surreale Fotografien sind heute faszinierender denn je"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art"],"acf":{"main_category":139,"legacy":false,"hero_title":"","subtitle":"A new exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield showcases the fantastical and enigmatic imagery of the Dutch art photographer","hero":{"video":false,"image":false,"header_color":"black","overlay_color":"","overlay_text_color":"black"},"teasers":{"video":false,"image":false,"width":"4","proportion":"natural"},"related_articles":"","next_article":"","content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
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It\u2019s not an image you\u2019re likely to forget: a zoom-in of peachy-pink lips pinched apart and wedged with a papery cut-out of the bell-shaped head of the carnivorous pitcher plant,\u00a0Nepenthes alata<\/i>. \u00a0This equally suggestive and disturbing composition is one of nearly 60 photographs and collages by\u00a0Viviane Sassen<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0currently on display as part of her mid-career survey\u00a0Hot Mirror<\/i>\u00a0at\u00a0The Hepworth Wakefield<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that foreground the Dutch artist and photographer’s tendency to push photography to its limits. The composite photograph\u00a0Nepenthes alata<\/i>\u00a0(titled after the plant) spotlights Sassen\u2019s endlessly experimental approach to image-making and her characteristic ability to combine reality with fantasy.<\/p>\n

Although Sassen is arguably best known as a fashion photographer, shooting campaigns for the likes of Miu Miu, Stella McCartney and Louis Vuitton,\u00a0Hot Mirror\u00a0<\/i>reveals the surrealistic inspirations and poetic qualities omnipresent in her art photography. These images, which frequently combine photography with collage and painting techniques, warrant more than a quick glance; they compel the viewer to look again and again, to peel off the layers in order to unearth a multitude of artistic references and universal themes packaged in imaginative forms. For example,\u00a0Yellow Vlei<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>(2014), which pictures a square of amber perspex hovering in the African desert, is intended to be a photographic representation of Kazimir Malevich\u2019s groundbreaking modernist painting,\u00a0Black Square<\/i>\u00a0(1915). For Sassen, the abstract shape \u2014 the square \u2014 operates as a point of reflection, where fear and longing can be projected. Certainly, abstraction is a common theme in her work: in another image, from her series,\u00a0Roxane II<\/i>\u00a0(with muse and stylist Roxanne Danset),<\/i>\u00a0the curvature of a knee is cropped and positioned against an electric blue sky like a mysterious monument.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The surrealist inclination in her work is palpable not only through her deliberate cropping and use of abstract shapes, but also through her tendency to take objects out of context, and warp and make strange the familiarity of the human form. Bodies are slathered in unctuous impasto, limbs are multiplied and nipples are repositioned and repurposed in perplexing re-imaginings of the body and its parts \u2014 best seen in her most recent series\u00a0Of Mud and Lotus<\/em>\u00a0(2017). Meanwhile, the egg \u2014 an object that famously features in the surrealist works of Man Ray, Salvador Dali and Georges Bataille \u2014 pops up in Sassen\u2019s images too, such as in\u00a0Three Planets\u00a0<\/em>(2017), as a form that is both common and strange. The fantastical quality of her work is augmented by a\u00a0concurrent exhibition<\/a>\u00a0of surrealist photographer Lee Miller at The Hepworth also. Both image-makers demonstrate a capacity for unexpected combinations and a purposeful use of light and shadow. Indeed, for Sassen, shadows suggest the complexity of human character \u2014 the dark flip-side of the cultivated persona. Throughout her corpus, shadows exist in sharp relief to brightly lit backgrounds and startling, fluorescent colour.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

The photographer regards her pictures to be \u201calmost like words\u201d and when placed alongside another image \u201cthey create a kind of poem\u201d. Frequently, her photographs can be read as fragments of a larger story \u2014 a story that continually changes depending on the ways in which the images are presented. For example, the photograph\u00a0Coffin \u2014\u00a0<\/i>from her early series\u00a0Flamboya\u00a0<\/i>(2004-2008), an ode to her childhood spent in Kenya \u2014\u00a0depicts a man carrying a crudely carved coffin through a barren landscape. The image encapsulates Sassen\u2019s ability to capture a moment in time devoid of narrative details, but all the more powerful because of it.<\/p>\n

Sassen\u00a0describes her approach to photography<\/a>\u00a0as a type of \u201cmagical thinking\u201d. This ethos is evident in\u00a0Hot Mirror \u2014\u00a0<\/em>her work is intuitive, multi-layered, and sensual. Sassen\u2019s highly original photography is further contextualised in\u00a0an accompanying exhibition catalogue<\/a>\u00a0published by Prestel, which contains an interview with the artist and an essay by the exhibition\u2019s curator, Eleanor Clayton. Both exhibition and catalogue emphasise the otherworldly, brilliantly-hued and boundary-pushing nature of her work.\u00a0Never obvious or predictable, Sassen abstracts and cuts through the commonplace to create dazzling images that wink with playfulness and possibility.<\/p>\n

Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror<\/a>\u00a0runs through to 7 October at The Hepworth Wakefield. The exhibition catalogue is now available from\u00a0Prestel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\nViviane Sassen\u2019s surreal photographs are more beguiling now than ever Viviane Sassen\u2019s surreal photographs are more beguiling now than ever<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/viviane-sassen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viviane Sassen\u2019s surreal photographs are more beguiling now than ever Viviane Sassen\u2019s surreal photographs are more beguiling now than ever\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/viviane-sassen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-01T14:10:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-07T11:26:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sleek\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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