When guests enter Viviane Sassen’s “PHOSPHOR, Artwork and Style” at Foam—the images museum of Amsterdam, a collection of fleshy, surrealist collages grasp within the entry space close to a slender staircase. Ladies’s our bodies, lacking fingers and prolonged limbs come cobbled collectively, making a daring assertion. This isn’t simply any profession retrospective of one other playful trend photographer. This can be a present of artistry and keenness. Sassen spent the sooner a part of her profession as a trend mannequin and studied trend design in Utrecht, so in fact, the work right here is trendy. However there’s far more to it.
After its preliminary exhibiting on the Museum of European Images in Paris, “PHOSPHOR” coming to Amsterdam is a kind of homecoming for Sassen, a local of the Dutch capital. It’ll head to Fotografiska Shanghai subsequent, however solely right here will it embrace her most present work amongst her earlier experiments.
“This marks the introduction of latest chapters in her creative narrative,” Foam curator Aya Musa tells Observer. “Showcasing her newest works for the primary time in her hometown, this exhibition uniquely combines private historical past with a forward-looking creative imaginative and prescient, offering deeper insights into her evolving inventive course of and the way her roots proceed to affect her present artwork.”
Although Sassen was born within the Netherlands in 1972, she spent 1974 by means of 1977 in Nyabondo, a Kenyan village the place her father was employed as a physician. Sassen continued to return there after shifting again to the Netherlands, and she or he describes these visits as “a lot like coming dwelling, and on the identical time, I do know I’ll by no means ever be part of that society. However that’s the place my earliest childhood recollections bought shaped, so it’s in my blueprint.”
She cites her time in Kenya as an period of “magical considering,” when dramatic hues, mild and shadow, the expansive sky and her relationship with the folks there shaped vivid, unforgettable scenes in her head.
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Within the Nineties, Sassen engaged in varied experiments in images. She posed as a mannequin for male trend photographers, and after these experiences, she began capturing self-portraits in an try and regain management of her picture. The picture collection “Gravity” (1995-1996) shows her commencement mission for the primary time and the origins of the stark contrasts that will function prominently in her later work with mild and shadow. In “Folio” (1996-1997), Sassen “sculpted” family and friends of their poses as in the event that they have been artistic endeavors. Each of those our bodies of labor grew to become the inspiration of the signature optics that will maintain her working with a number of the largest names in media and trend.
One of many key components of “PHOSPHOR” is the shifting slideshow in a darkish room of a highlights reel of her editorial trend images. The pictures that loop are addictive and hypnotic—with a soundtrack of percussive instrumentals within the background reflecting the sharp visuals. It’s right here that Sassen’s mastery of trend and artwork really come collectively: the eye-catching colours, the statuesque posing of the fashions, the suave silhouettes and the slight air of mischief. A few of the pictures right here might have been shot years in the past, but there appears to be a permanent high quality to them.
The Lichthof set up in “PHOSPHOR” exemplifies Viviane Sassen’s integration of high quality arts and trend, in response to Musa. “This area highlights her potential to mix sculptural trend components with dynamic compositions, creating a visible dialogue that spans her early collaborations with trend college students and stylists to her intensive work with high-profile manufacturers corresponding to Dior, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs,” she says. It’s Sassen’s method to trend images that infuses it with creative depth.
Whereas her newer works present extra of her summary efforts—one video of clouds shifting like liquid and one other much like a rain puddle with vibrations—it’s her trend images that speaks volumes, particularly about her private journey. “This exhibition is not only a showcase of creative achievement but additionally an invite to discover the depths of human emotion and notion, prompting a profound appreciation for the ability of visible artwork to convey complicated human experiences,” Musa concludes.
“PHOSPHOR, Artwork and Style” is at Foam by means of January 12, 2025.
