International

Ruud van Empel's international breakthrough came with his series of works entitled World, Moon, Venus (2005-2008). These were first exhibited in the Picturing Eden exhibition, compiled by Deborah Klochko, in the George Eastman House, Rochester NY. Van Empel’s working method is a complex one. He photographs 4 or 5 professional models in his studio, and takes many series of detailed photos of leaves, flowers, plants and animals. Having gathered hundreds of pictures in a database, he selects those images with which he can achieve the best results. The models are mixed in the Photoshop program, clothes are photographed separately on a tailor’s dummy. In this way he creates new images of mainly children, black or white, set in a paradisaical environment. The art historian Jan Baptist Bedaux wrote in de catalogue (2006) of Museum Het Valkhof:

The fact that many of the children in his compositions have a dark skin is a facet that cannot remain without comment. Although it is self-evident that a child’s skin colour is not important, the iconography of the innocent child was traditionally represented by ‘white’ children. The earliest examples of this date from the early seventeenth century. These are portraits in which children are captured in an idealized, pastoral setting. In deviating from the standard iconography by giving the child a dark skin, Van Empel inadvertently assumes a political stance. After all, this child is still the focus of discrimination and its innocence is not recognized by everyone as being self-evident.

In 2011 the Groninger Museum will present a retrospective of his work.From there on the exhibition will travel around Europe and the United States.

Ruud van Empel is represented by:

Flatland Gallery, The Netherlands: www.flatlandgallery.com

Stux Gallery, New York:www.stuxgallery.com

TZR Galerie, Germany: www.tzrgalerie.de

Ruud van Empel: www.ruudvanempel.nl/