Summershow 2015: Group presentation DARREN HARVEY-REGAN / MARK NETTENBRIJERS / KOEN HAUSER / ATZE HAYTSMA

Darren Harvey-Regan (1974) experiments with the nature of the photographic and its relationship to the material world. He presents a constant interaction between the subject, its photographic representation and the material photograph itself. With ‘Metalepsis’, Harvey-Regan created an extremely precise association of images and textures, combining different perspectives and blurring the limits between concrete objects and abstract forms to highlight their respective beauty.

Koen Hauser (1972) is known for his diverse body of work, exploring the frontiers among fine arts, fashion and photography. His work always embodies his love for the mysterious and the strange, far from contemporary visual conventions. With the ‘Biobased Artworks’ series, he zooms in on organic elements and surprises us with microscopic shapes extracted from nature. Presented on a pedestal, they become extraordinary sculptures and unusual pieces of art.

The images of Freudenthal/Verhagen (1965/1962) are, over the years, diverse in discipline and forms. They always show a sense of disturbance and a multilayered story. Stretching the confines of photography, the duo has merged photographs into 3D installations. For these pictures of Majid Karrouch, a famous Dutch stylist, they printed the photographs onto silk and created a singular optical effect. The prints and the outfit exceed the inner limits of the frame to make the portrait even more realistic.

‘Rise & Fall’ takes the viewer into the silence and fragility of the natural world. In this haunting series of large-scale black and white photographs by Mark Nettenbreijers (1971), the forest becomes a rich canvas for an abstract light that captures the cycles of life and death. The forest has long been a symbol of darkness and dread, but also of contemplation. Nettenbreijers captures both of these opposing elements. The visual motifs in ‘Rise & Fall’ are perhaps understandable, and yet there is a mystery that covers the scene, compelling us to go deeper still into the forest.

For 25 years Atze Haytsma (1929) has been capturing the tangible in moulding clay, the visible in photography and his thoughts in poetry. Everything in his art revolves around shape, from his early works in stone to his current ones with wax. Even though he was educated to be a sculptor, photographing women became an essential part of his life. Haytsma always photographs women naked because he considers clothing as artificial: the absence of modern body embellishments makes his images timeless and their beauty unique.