09 february 2024, Wouter van den Eijkel
The artist who needs no more than a single photograph
Can a solitary photograph provide enough inspiration to fuel an entire artistic career? For most, the answer is most likely no. But Emile Gostelie, a self-proclaimed artistic researcher, is the exception. He discovered boundless potential in a photograph he took of a haystack, which he transformed into monumental forms—totems, pyramids, towers and temples. Through his work, Gostelie explores questions about human nature. What is it about monumental shapes that captivates us and why can this fascination be perilous?
Emile Gostelie's work is currently showcased alongside Tjitske Oosterholt's at Contour Gallery in the exhibition Segments of Nature.
Artistic researcher
Emile Gostelie (Amsterdam, 1957) rejects the label of artist or photographer. When referred to as such at the outset of our conversation, he promptly responds, “I am not an artist and I am a mediocre photographer at most. I refer to myself as an artistic researcher.” While this may sound like a semantic dodge, it is nothing less than an accurate depiction of his practice.
Gostelie studied civil engineering in Delft and after a career as a business consultant and early retirement, he began reflecting on how to fill his time. A coach asked him what he enjoyed as a child. “As a teenager, I had a darkroom and rarely produced a good photograph, but I loved playing with chemicals.” So, he enrolled at the Amsterdam Photo Academy and graduated with honours in 2021. That same year, he was among the recipients of the Carte Blanche prize awarded by the Paris Photo fair presented to students. His series The Laws of the Haystack was prominently displayed on large canvases at Gare du Nord.
Emile Gostelie, Haysteck - 12 Triangulated Temples, 2023, Contour Gallery
A Normandy haystack
Nearly three years ago while vacationing in Normandy, Gostelie spotted a haystack in a field one day. He was immediately struck by the monumental shape of the stacked hay bales, but “especially by everything that it stirred up in my imagination: I saw totems, pyramids, columns in it.” He captured the image with a small-format camera. A few days later, when he planned to return with a medium-format camera to take definitive shots, the haystack was already gone. But Gostelie had found his subject.
During this period, he immersed himself in the work of 19th-century Austrian physicist Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (1844-1906). Boltzmann formulated the second law of thermodynamics and is known for his entropy equation. He posited that atoms are in motion, an idea that was long disregarded because we do not perceive the moving atoms and the macroscopic result remains unchanged for us. A table remains a table, regardless of the movement of its constituent atoms. “Entropy,” Gostelie explains, “is the measure of our blindness. It encompasses all the micro-configurations of atoms that we cannot see because they lead to the same macro-configuration. As humans, we perceive almost nothing. We do not see all colours, cannot detect most wavelengths and struggle to perceive very small and very large objects. There exists an entire universe beyond the world we perceive.”
Emile Gostelie, Cone Based Growers #5, 2023, Contour Gallery
Illustrating all possible configurations is precisely what Gostelie accomplishes in his work. He presents us with alternative configurations of a singular object: a random haystack he once encountered in Normandy.
At first glance, the viewer might assume that Gostelie manipulates his haystack picture using Photoshop, but this is not the case. “I print out the picture and then start cutting and slicing.” Currently, he is working on three-dimensional reliefs, all derived from the picture of the haystack.
Sublime forms
In addition to an interest in what lies just beyond our perception and a fascination with the process of metamorphosis, Gostelie has a predilection for monumental forms and what he terms ‘seductive myths’. In his work, he transforms the haystack into gates, triangles and columns, among other shapes, and bestows upon them such titles as Gateways, Black Peaks en Triangulated Temples.
Emile Gostelie, Gateway #3, 2023, Contour Gallery
Gostelie explains, “I am fascinated by stacks and stepped structures that evoke ancient monuments and markers in a landscape, such as totems, pyramids, Stonehenge-like ruins, Maya temples and the burial mounds at Poverty Point in the U.S. These 'sublime' shapes and constructions possess a seductive quality, evoking a sense of a shared ‘idea’, of ancient myths and rituals.” As more research is conducted on such monuments, more are discovered. Their function often proves difficult to ascertain. “Perhaps they were intended for the worship of gods, but probably also for the celebration, reenactment and conveyance of a shared idea.” They evoke a sense of awe and willingness to submit in Gostelie.
“Yielding to and submitting to a story, myth, legend or idea, thereby belonging to a group and being able to cooperate, is what these ancient monumental shapes represent to me. They embody the fantastic and catastrophic propensity of humans to believe stories. This is a trait of all eras, from the temples of the Mayans, Greeks and Romans to the architecture of Albert Speer—monumental shapes consistently resurface.”
Emile Gostelie, Horizontal Mutation #2, 2024, Contour Gallery
Gostelie's fascination with these shapes is also an exploration of himself and human nature, he explains. “Where does that sometimes very dangerous allure and inclination toward submission originate? Is it biologically determined, a construct or a combination of both?” This is also the question he wants to pose to viewers: Why do I find this shape beautiful, why is it so enticing? But also, what is dangerous about it? So, through a single photograph of something as unassuming as a haystack, Gostelie manages to pose questions of enduring significance, questions that may be more pertinent today than ever before.
An artist talk is scheduled for 2 March with Emile Gostelie and Tjitske Oosterholt at Contour Gallery in Rotterdam. Segments of Nature will be on display at the gallery until 9 March.
