69
Roger Ballen (South Africa, 1950-) 'Closet'
Estimate:
$3,000 - $6,000
Sold
$3,000
Live Auction
183 Important Paintings & Contemporary Art
ARTIST
Roger Ballen
Category
Description
Roger Ballen (South Africa, 1950-)
Closet
gelatin silver print, 3/10
title inscribed, signed and dated 2004 on artist’s catalogue label affixed verso
455 x 455mm
Provenance
Private collection, Auckland. Purchased from Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland.
Note
Born in 1950 and a key photographer of his generation, Roger Ballen was one of three artists selected to represent South Africa at last year’s Venice Biennale. Ballen’s psychologically powerful silver gelatin photographs ‘do not pretend to mimic the world in a manner similar to the way the human eye might perceive. Black and white film is essentially an abstract way to interpret and transform what one might refer to as reality.’ Ballen studied psychology at the University of California and completed his PhD in Mineral Economics at the Colorado School of Mines. Relocating to South Africa to work as a geologist, he began documenting his new environment of small mining towns and their inhabitants. These now iconic images evolved into more elaborately constructed compositions, allowing Ballen to evoke the most undomesticated side of his human subjects and incite discomfort; not so much for the residents of his strange worlds whose metaphysical and emotive qualities are evoked, but for us, the viewer. Ballen’s more recent works adopt a formal language that is not immediately associated with photography. His engagement with a more painterly and sculptural aesthetic unbalances the viewer’s sense of reality while delivering a powerful emotional hit.
Closet
gelatin silver print, 3/10
title inscribed, signed and dated 2004 on artist’s catalogue label affixed verso
455 x 455mm
Provenance
Private collection, Auckland. Purchased from Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland.
Note
Born in 1950 and a key photographer of his generation, Roger Ballen was one of three artists selected to represent South Africa at last year’s Venice Biennale. Ballen’s psychologically powerful silver gelatin photographs ‘do not pretend to mimic the world in a manner similar to the way the human eye might perceive. Black and white film is essentially an abstract way to interpret and transform what one might refer to as reality.’ Ballen studied psychology at the University of California and completed his PhD in Mineral Economics at the Colorado School of Mines. Relocating to South Africa to work as a geologist, he began documenting his new environment of small mining towns and their inhabitants. These now iconic images evolved into more elaborately constructed compositions, allowing Ballen to evoke the most undomesticated side of his human subjects and incite discomfort; not so much for the residents of his strange worlds whose metaphysical and emotive qualities are evoked, but for us, the viewer. Ballen’s more recent works adopt a formal language that is not immediately associated with photography. His engagement with a more painterly and sculptural aesthetic unbalances the viewer’s sense of reality while delivering a powerful emotional hit.
