VLUGT, MARCEL VAN DER. - A New Day.
d'jonge Hond. 2007. Plts. Softcover in trans parant cover with inserted medical card.
These lovely images are from Marcel van der Vlugt’s medical series A New Day. They depict the “flowers of illness,” so to speak, featuring nude women in hospital regalia (bandages, oxygen masks, bound limbs), among medical equipment, upon the operating and examining table, but simultaneously intertwined with, wearing, sprouting flowers, seeming somehow strong at the same time that they represent fragility and trauma, and suggesting that they are reborn, given new life in the midst of sickness and sterility. Lees verder ...
Marcel van der Vlugt, 1957, The Netherlands, is a fine-art, fashion and commercial photographer based in Amsterdam. Once he was finished with his studies at the School for Photography in The Hague he went to Düsseldorf, Germany to assist an advertising photographer. Although his school was largely focused on the technical aspects of photography, Marcel managed to create bodies of work that, although technically perfectly executed, are multi-layered in context. He works on a large-format camera, shooting polaroids to keep control on his final image and to engage the models in the process. The images, autonomous or commercial, are often sensual, poetic and carefully composed. Between 2007 and 2010 he released four monographs. The book A New Day, released in 2008, simulates an imaginary cosmetic clinic where instead of liposuction and nosejobs, the patients get implants of flowers. The blossom is a metaphor for youth, new life and fertility. His work has been exhibited mostly in the Netherlands, but also in other European cities and in the USA. The following images come from the series A New Day, I Like... and Der Kommisar.
Marcel van der Vlugt, 1957, The Netherlands, is a fine-art, fashion and commercial photographer based in Amsterdam. Once he was finished with his studies at the School for Photography in The Hague he went to Düsseldorf, Germany to assist an advertising photographer. Although his school was largely focused on the technical aspects of photography, Marcel managed to create bodies of work that, although technically perfectly executed, are multi-layered in context. He works on a large-format camera, shooting polaroids to keep control on his final image and to engage the models in the process. The images, autonomous or commercial, are often sensual, poetic and carefully composed. Between 2007 and 2010 he released four monographs. The book A New Day, released in 2008, simulates an imaginary cosmetic clinic where instead of liposuction and nosejobs, the patients get implants of flowers. The blossom is a metaphor for youth, new life and fertility. His work has been exhibited mostly in the Netherlands, but also in other European cities and in the USA. The following images come from the series A New Day, I Like... and Der Kommisar.
Marcel van der Vlugt : ... 'De foto maakt deel uit van de serie A New Day, die weer onderdeel uitmaakt van mijn laatste project rond het thema 'beauty'. Eigenlijk refereert al mijn vrije werk naar het begrip 'beauty'. Dat kunnen stillevens zijn, bloemen, landschappen... Elke serie is een benadering, een nieuw bloempje aan de grote boom waaraan ik werk.'
'Deze foto speelt zich af in een imaginaire beautykliniek voor plastische chirurgie waar je bloesem laat implanteren - bloesem als symbool voor nieuw leven, lente, jeugd en vruchtbaarheid. De titel is SB 32, 2006, naar de manier waarop je genoemd wordt in een ziekenhuisrapport. De bijzonderheid van het beeld is dat het een model van vlees en bloed is. Dat ziet niet iedereen. Omdat het zo is ingepakt met ziekenhuisverband, lijkt het net een pop. En toch zie je de expressie, in het lichaam, in het gezicht. Dat grensgebied tussen model en pop vind ik intrigerend. Deze foto, maar ook andere foto’s uit A New Day, is een reactie op alle aandacht en onze fascinatie voor cosmetische ingegrepen. Het is mijn reactie en iedereen mag daar zelf een invulling aan geven.' ...
