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Ron van Dongen: Effusus
Catherine Edelman Gallery
Ron van Dongen: Effusus presents thirty-nine photographs of botanical subjects in both color and black and white, most of them new work and adding to the Dutch photographer's long and skilled study of flora in its many incarnations. This is superb formal photography, a melding of elegant observation with attention to form and fragility, and yielding the deep beauty that arises from such single-minded observation: a precise observation of the physical world, whose precision invokes both the sensual and the spiritual. The exquisite precision of close-up photography takes the eye beyond where it can normally go, here into a realm of botanical detail that carries with it a sense of presence, deeply felt. With a few exceptions, in both color and black and white van Dongen selects as his subject a single botanical element -- bloom, spathe, or leaf -- and isolates it, carefully posed and lit, against an unfocused or hazily-focused ground. In the color photographs, the background is a single field of color, chosen to either harmonize or contrast the floral subject. The result is a tightly focused foreground presenting the flower or leaf in sharp definition, against a depthless color field that lends vivacity and often coaxes further detail from the botanical image. In Papaver Nudicaule (1997), the already sensual sway of the twined stems is lent an extra heightening of visual experience by perfectly, delicately rendered filaments of ochre along the length of the stalks and fuzzed thick on the unopened bud, visible against the violet-blue background. The bud and petals stand in a balance of tension, each representing a polarity of expression: the bud, hairy, delicately uncouth, soon to become a blossom; the opened bloom, tissue-paper white, paper-like and ephemeral, once a bud; both, in actuality, stages of the same experience. A like contrast is seen in Papaver 'Black Cloud' (2005) between the spiky chartreuse stalk and the deep, romantic ruffling of the dark-magenta blossom. The aureole of illumination around the flower's base, evidence of van Dongen's carefully poised lighting, picks out the delicate ribbing that supports each petal. Hippeastrum 'Papillo' (2005), with its ecru background and visual flattening of the subject, brings out strong reminiscences of the colors and contrasts of the best 19th-century botanical engraving, such as the images in the magnificent Aroideae Maximilianae by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott (Vienna: C. Gerold's Sohn, 1879) (itself in the special collections of the Chicago Botanic Garden) -- a proper comparison, for like the botanic engravings, this attentive color photography is a heady commingling of fine art and scientific precision. Other works present a more postmodern sensibility of simplicity and starkness. In Kalanchoe beharensis I (2005) and its haunting companion, Kalanchoe beharensis II (2005), the same ordinary leaf is transformed into an observation of structure, both front and back. Diffuse, carefully-managed lighting brings out the cup-like containment of the former and the curvaceous structure of the latter. In each case, a choice of neutral tan background complements the color of the leaf, allowing its form to be the primary consideration. Both the different coloration of the end result, and the differing moods evoked by the two images, show what a skillful photographer can do with even the simplest of subjects. The black and white images push the focus onto botanical form, often employing unexpected tonal contrasts. In Lapageria rosea 'Alba' (1999) the pendulous white blooms almost vanish into the sparkling white of the background. While the vines and leaves appear crisply in their dark calligraphic scrolling, the flowers are the barest suggestions of shading and line. Likewise Nelumbo nucifera 'Maya' II (2000), where the modestly downturned blossom-head is a pale, suspended creation, ornamental foil for the long, elegant neck of stem. Papaver nudicaule III (1997) (noted above as a color image) reappears in black and white, the image reversed from its color counterpart and the simplification into tonal areas flattening the picture and drawing a stronger contrast between the hairy bud and the crinkled petals of the flower. In these black and white works, an exposed edge, added during the photographic development process, is both delicate framing for the image, and subtle reminder of the artist's presence.
Van Dongen's intent attention, carefully prepared staging and lighting, and the precision of his close observation as rendered by the photographic lens result in an image which reveals exquisite levels of form and detail in his botanical subjects. Isolating each subject against carefully-chosen defocused background color heightens the ability to appreciate each bloom, leaf or spathe for its individuality, whether simple or complex. Qualities of form, structure and color present themselves more intensely for appreciation, because competing information has been edited out. That these are natural, grown things adds a further element of the artist's selection -- Why this bloom? Why this leaf? What does he most want me to see? Unlike many others who focus on botanical subjects the artist grows and nurtures his own plants, dedicated horticulturist as well as photographer. The fruits of his enthusiams are a sensitivity to the unexpected aspects of the floral anatomy he studies, a classical perfection of form, voluptuous as well as analytical. The photographic medium, furthermore, in capturing the image for extended viewing releases the bloom from the time-bound reality of its ephemeral existence. The peak of perfection van Dongen captures exists for only a few days, even a few hours; but the image, held up to view, can be returned to time and again to see new details, or appreciate harmonies already perceived. From one perspective, van Dongen's presentation is artificial. The blooms are clearly staged, lit, and provided with backgrounds, in addition to the editing provided by the photographer's eye as he sets up the shot. At the same time, there is a feeling that these works perceive a deeper a truthfulness arising from the artist's ability to focus the specific subject into a still, precise observation of its individual details. There is a tale in the ancient history of cha-no-yu, the tea ceremony of Japan, which expresses a measure of the experience of van Dongen's photography. Itself built on keenly attuned, highly refined concepts of aesthetics, including flowers, gardens, and the natural world, cha-no-yu boasted in the 16th century a tea master known as Sen no Rikyu, who in his garden had grown the finest, most exquisite morning glories, so celebrated that news of their beauty reached the reigning Shogun, Toyetomi Hideyoshi, who requested an invitation for tea solely in order to see them. Hearing this, the tea master scythed down the entire garden, not a bloom remaining -- save one, placed into an antique vase, which met the eye when the Shogun entered the teahouse. With a bold gesture Rikyu distilled the aesthetic experience from a garden's worth of riotous beauty into a deeper and more intense appreciation of one single bloom itself. Likewise the photography in Effusus. Ron van Dongen: Effusus draws on our responsiveness to precise image, to a formal, classical orderliness, most of all to a close observation of pattern, fragility and structure that sets all else aside in its intent attention. Van Dongen takes us beyond the stereotypical gloss of 'flower' and into a realm of exquisitely realized botanical detail. Featuring thirty-nine photographs in both color and black-and-white, and including new work, Ron van Dongen: Effusus will be at Catherine Edelman Gallery through April 15, 2006. Images in the exhibition Ron van Dongen: Effusus are also to be featured in forthcoming books Effusus (2006) and Bloom (2006), both by Nazraeli Press. Van Dongen's botanic photography has been featured in other monographs by Nazraeli Press, including Ops Opis (2004), Flowering Passion (2004), Rosa Ferreus (2001), Nudare (2001), Vulgaris (2000), and Alba Nero (1999). --Katherine R. Lieber Katherine R. Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net. Editorial Note: Rosa Ferreus, Nudare, Vulgaris, Alba Nero, and other books mentioned in www.artscope.net reviews, may be purchased through this site's Amazon.com link or by clicking on the link above. |
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