Erik Wesselo: 56 Beaver Street
Annet Gelink Gallery proudly presents its second solo exhibition of Dutch artist Erik Wesselo ('s-Hertogenbosch, 1964). The new book 56 Beaver Street will be presented at the exhibition. The title of the book and the exhibition refers to the period in which Wesselo lived and worked in New York. That was the time when the two airplanes flew into the Twin Towers and for a long time the city and its inhabitants were in complete upheaval. That alienation, the insignificance and the loneliness - always-decisive elements in Wesselo's work - are more prominent than ever at this exhibition. The exhibition consists of a series of Polaroid prints, a 16mm film, and two video projections.
The photos show a desolate natural and urban environment. The - at first glance - beautiful pictures create a feeling of threat. They have been printed from Polaroids, which makes the colors slightly foggy and gives them an extraordinary quality. Some have an intensely blue or yellow color, which makes the landscapes look unreal. Erik Wesselo always chooses low-tech means, but knows how to create a staggering effect with them. He has mastered techniques that give his austere registrations a sublime quality.
The Super 8 black-and-white film Los Cojones del Diablo (2006) is a good example. An abandoned world wrapped up in darkness is laid down from a static camera standpoint. Patches of fog are slowly rolling over the landscape, gradually revealing an unreal scene in which two towers play a role. Erik Wesselo knows exactly how to attune his subject, his material, the technique and the time in such a way that the spectator is carried off in his strange way of looking and experiencing.
The book 56 Beaver Street consists of two parts. The first part contains Polaroids, letters, notes, receipts and other tokens from the time that Erik Wesselo was living in New York. The second part of the book is a script, so far not yet turned into a film, originated in that period from Erik Wesselo's collaboration with American script writer J.M. Edwards. (Episode publishers, ISBN: 9059730569, € 29,50
