Monday 18 May 2009

featuring dieter de lathauwer

'featuring' is a way of exposing the work and thoughts of a contemporary photographer
mostly it's a summary of a communication (live chat, email, phonecall...) through which i tried to find answers on questions or to let the artist explain the idea behind an image

i find dieter de lathauwer's imagery quite unique in the belgian photographyscene
born in '78, he graduated as an industrial engineer in 2000 after which he studied photography at the academy of fine arts in gent
he lives and works in gent - belgium
while observing dieter's intriguing landscapes, words like transparency and endlessness, solitude and desolateness, sublimed reality and surreality come to my mind
one thing is for sure, and this makes his portfolio that outstanding:
de lathauwer speaks a language of his own which he finds difficult
to explain himself but that no one amongst us can leave untouched


i asked the man to write something down about one of his images...


title: "don bocata" . 2008 . 80x100cm . inkjetprint on archival baryte . mounted on dibond .


I wander. I explore. The boundaries between nature and culture.
A tension between registration and storytelling.
Under the skin uneasy feelings.
Surreal, slightly.
Watching.
Slow.
Alone.
"We are now officially in fantasy land" - are we?
A strange world suddenly exposing itself to you.
Please come in.

This image is taken in Gran Canaria. Not that it matters. With a medium format film camera.
Is it real, fake, a miniature world? What's going on? Enter my world, please, enter.

Dieter

dieter's site and blog

1 comment:

LUC RABAEY said...

I fully agree, Paul. He 's one of the unknown good Flemish photographers with amazing ideas and a intriguing feeling for distance, framing and the use of light.