Roger Ballen
Black hole, 2013
photograph archival pigment print on hahnemuhle paper
custom frame and museum quality glass
custom frame and museum quality glass
image size 53 x 38 cm
frame size 75.6 x 60 cm
frame size 75.6 x 60 cm
limited edition of 6
Separated into seven chapters or "acts", The Theatre of Apparitions is a treat of Ballenesque images taking readers on a deep journey into their subconscious.
Inspired by the sight of hand-drawn carvings on blacked-out windows in an abandoned women's prison,
Ballen started to experiment using different spray paints on glass and then 'drawing on' or removing the paint with a sharp object to let natural light through.
The results are like prehistoric cave-paintings: the black, dimensionless spaces on the glass are canvases onto which Ballen carves his thoughts and emotions. Fossil-like facial forms and dismembered body parts coexist uncomfortably with vaporous, ghost-like shadows.
Earthly and otherworldly, physical and spiritual, his work transcends all traditional concepts of photography.
Provenance
Direct from the artist Roger Ballen
Related artworks
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Roger Ballen, Visitors, 2020 -
Roger Ballen, Follower, 2018
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Roger Ballen, Otherworld, 2016
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Roger Ballen, Dogfellows, 2014
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Roger Ballen, Imprisioned, 2014
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Roger Ballen, Girl in white dress, 2002
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Roger Ballen, Show Off, 2000
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Roger Ballen, Tommy, Sampson and a Mask, 2000
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Roger Ballen, Elias coming out from under John's bed, 1999
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Roger Ballen, Caged, 2011
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Roger Ballen, Headless, 2006
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Roger Ballen, Head below wires, 1999
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Roger Ballen, Face-Off, 2010
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Roger Ballen, Duality, 2013
