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Roger Ballen: The Theatre of Apparitions

Roger Ballen: The Theatre of Apparitions
Library Shelf Location 18.BALL
Publication Date 2016
Description

Roger Ballen is best known for his psychologically powerful and intricately layered images that exist in a space between painting, drawing, installation and photography.

The Theatre of Apparitions is both a departure from his existing oeuvre and the culmination of his unique aesthetic linking image-making and theatrical performance. Separated into seven chapters or ‘acts’, with each one introduced by a text written by the photographer, these ‘Ballenesque’ images take readers on a journey deep into their subconscious.

Initially inspired by blacked-out windows seen in an abandoned women’s prison, Ballen started to experiment using different spray paints on glass and then ‘drawing on’ or removing the paint with a sharp object to let natural light through. The resulting images are like prehistoric cave-paintings: the black, dimensionless spaces on the glass are canvases onto which Ballen carves his thoughts and emotions. Fossil-like facial forms and dismembered body parts co-exist uncomfortably with vaporous, ghost-like shadows – these images have the capacity to shock, inspire, amuse and even elate viewers.

Timeless and innovative, earthly and otherworldly, physical and spiritual, this work transcends all traditional concepts of photography.

ISBN 9780500544648
Quantity 1
Pages 192
Author Colin Rhodes
Format Hardback
Related Artist Roger Ballen
Categories Artist (relating to a single artist/collaborative team), Drawing
Language English

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