i’m jealous of rineke dijkstra
Oh, the amazing, large-scale beach portraits of Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra. They almost look like hyper-real paintings, don’t they? These photographs, from her series titled Beach Portraits, are not only huge {approx 46″ x 37″!!}, they are also absolutely stunning in their quiet simplicity. Sigh.
{Looking for something to do this weekend? Perfect! There is a retrospective of her work currently showing at the Guggenheim from June 29 ~ October 8, 2012}
I’m so jealous of everyone who gets to see all of the cool art and photography exhibits in NYC. Sandra saw a Cindy Sherman exhibit! Sigh.
I saw this exhibit in SF earlier this year, and the images are life size…. sooo creepy cool!
There’s a great story about the second picture. Rieneke Dijkstra never uses professional models, she just approaches kids and asks them for a photo, spontaneously. That’s why they look so vulnerable and awkward.
For this photo, she was in Florida, and she was photographing other kids when this girl’s mother approached her, asking her if she wanted to photograph her daughter. Rieneke was hesitant but agreed to take her picture the next day. Then the mother went shopping with the girl, bought her a new bikini and everything…. and then, the next day, just before Rieneke took the picture, the mother said to the daughter “gosh you look so fat in that bikini”… and that’s why she still looks vulnerable and awkward, despite the photo being all posed and planned ahead.
thank you so much for the inside scoop – i love that image (but now i feel so bad for that girl!)
I just saw these at the Guggenheim last week!!!