RECENT PROJECTS
ARCADIA REDESIGNED
NETWORKING ON THE NETWORK 2002-2005
LAS HUELLAS DEL DESEO
DRIVE-INN MOVIES 1976
SEASCAPES 1976-2005
BLACK&WHITE 1971-1976
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RECENT PROJECTS
ARCADIA REDESIGNED
NETWORKING ON THE NETWORK 2002-2005
LAS HUELLAS DEL DESEO
DRIVE-INN MOVIES 1976
SEASCAPES 1976-2005
BLACK&WHITE 1971-1976
NETWORKING THE NETWORK
publication in GKFbulletin Amsterdam december 2008
with a text by Bill Kouwenhoven
NETWORKING THE NETWORK
Photographers, whether paparazzi stalking Brangelina or Edward Weston communing with nature at Point Lobos, like to imagine that they really are lone wolves. Yet for all of this pretence, photographers, like writers and critics, also a lonely seeming lot, need to show their pictures that would otherwise linger in the studio or on some hard-drive. In short, they need to network in order to exchange contacts, find jobs, arrange shows, meet collectors, make sales, and otherwise mingle. This sometimes incestuous mating game takes place around museum openings, photography festivals, and private dinners with collectors, among other venues.
Herman van den Boom is a veteran of these affairs. A noted artist in his own right and one with many years on the circuit of Arles, Paris, Houston, Amsterdam, not to mention the farther flung Tampere and Lianzhou, Van den Boom was struck by the absurdity of it all, and artist that he is, he decided to make art out of the business of artists in action networking the.network.
Fuelled by alcohol and high on their own self-importance, artists, critics, curators, and collectors behaving foolishly frenetically work the rooms and conspire behind flowers and curtains or, exhausted by all the effort involved, slump in saunas or desperately clutch street signs after failing to close the deal or simply too much partying.
The parade of people passing before Van den Boom’s lens runs the gamut from artistes brutes to the paragons of High Art. Networking the Network is a hilarious and ironic look at the secret business that is behind the art world. It is an intimate portrait of the travelling freak show of artists, critics and collectors from an insider’s perspective.
Herman van den Boom has produced the first true portrait of the art world as it really is.
Bill Kouwenhoven
New York
5 November 2008
publication in GKFbulletin Amsterdam december 2008
with a text by Bill Kouwenhoven
NETWORKING THE NETWORK
Photographers, whether paparazzi stalking Brangelina or Edward Weston communing with nature at Point Lobos, like to imagine that they really are lone wolves. Yet for all of this pretence, photographers, like writers and critics, also a lonely seeming lot, need to show their pictures that would otherwise linger in the studio or on some hard-drive. In short, they need to network in order to exchange contacts, find jobs, arrange shows, meet collectors, make sales, and otherwise mingle. This sometimes incestuous mating game takes place around museum openings, photography festivals, and private dinners with collectors, among other venues.
Herman van den Boom is a veteran of these affairs. A noted artist in his own right and one with many years on the circuit of Arles, Paris, Houston, Amsterdam, not to mention the farther flung Tampere and Lianzhou, Van den Boom was struck by the absurdity of it all, and artist that he is, he decided to make art out of the business of artists in action networking the.network.
Fuelled by alcohol and high on their own self-importance, artists, critics, curators, and collectors behaving foolishly frenetically work the rooms and conspire behind flowers and curtains or, exhausted by all the effort involved, slump in saunas or desperately clutch street signs after failing to close the deal or simply too much partying.
The parade of people passing before Van den Boom’s lens runs the gamut from artistes brutes to the paragons of High Art. Networking the Network is a hilarious and ironic look at the secret business that is behind the art world. It is an intimate portrait of the travelling freak show of artists, critics and collectors from an insider’s perspective.
Herman van den Boom has produced the first true portrait of the art world as it really is.
Bill Kouwenhoven
New York
5 November 2008