Landscapes was a presentation of landscape photographs by Elger Esser, Jan Koster en Gerco de Ruijter. However diverse their work may be, their photographs owe much to 17th century landscape painting.
Landscape photographers Gerco de Ruijter, Jan Koster and Elger Esser are greatly influenced by 17th century landscape painting. A Philips Coninck painting was therefore reproduced on the invitation to the exhibition`s opening. De Ruijter`s high perspective, Koster`s panoramic landscape and Esser`s water and colours were all immediately recognizable in Conick`s painting. What was missing from the photographs were human subjects. The three photographers` landscapes may be empty scenes, but they are enough in themselves.
Gerco de Ruijter
Gerco de Ruijter photographs his landscapes from the air, using a camera fixed to a kite. His tilted landscapes have lost their usual aspect; the view from above makes features such as tracks, cracks and crusts appear to be something else entirely. De Ruijter`s landscapes have a painterly feel. Ditches resemble the lines in abstract painting; a mass of sand could be expressionistic brushstrokes – and yet they remain what they are: elements of a landscape.
Jan Koster
The photographic works by Jan Koster on display had been made along the river IJssel, in the Netherlands. Koster explored a majestic river’s bend with a 35 millimetre camera, constantly taking photographs. He subsequently slid all the photographs into each other: the end result very much a product of our times, as were the cars, the crib works and the little asphalt road depicted on the images. And yet the photographed sites call to mind the quintessentially Dutch scenes captured by painters such as Ruysdael and Van Goyen, assuring us that Holland’s landscape is not (yet) lost.
Elger Esser
Elger Esser’s large photographs, taken from a low perspective, show the banks of French estuaries. Clay dams bring order to the vast stretches of water. The division of the water’s surfaces makes for ambiguity: here and there, the clouded water looks as if it were solid ground. The pre-dominant sepia tones give the work a timeless quality.
