Galerie Helder presents three artists who work on their own characteristic form in which photography is more than just capturing reality. Realism and figuration reveal a nuanced imagination.
Svante Gullichsen (FI 1994) uses photography for a personal challenge with the elements. The landscape is used to unravel his own search for the ‘mystery’ of being human. Alone or with additional models he figures in the surroundings of the Finnish Porvoo archipelago. His works are in fact the result of a performance in often extreme circumstances.
Andrés Gallego (ES 1983) is fascinated by the work of the 20th-century American painter Edward Hopper, who found support in the spatial structures he photographed. Gallego’s ‘Hopper Essence’ series is a series of photographs in which the views from the windows are transferred to canvas by the artist himself in acrylic paint, as is the scenography, which is recreated to scale. In the same vein as Hopper’s paintings, Gallego’s photography makes you hesitate about what you see.
Vincent van Gaalen (NL 1984) travels to the last dark areas of Europe, where the darkness of the night has not (yet) been replaced by artificial light. In the midst of this darkness, Van Gaalen records the human absence – surrounded by nothing more than his photo equipment, a tent and some rations. The result aims to be a personal impression and only reveals more as you give your eyes time.