Bakker, Arnoud - Atropa Bella Donna SIGNED!

Atropa bella donna

Arnoud Bakker

SIGNED

Arnoud Bakker (b. 1972) can be described as an aesthetic romantic. He is obsessed by the concept of the ideal, all-encompassing woman, while at the same time sharing the harrowing realisation that she does not exist. His work seems to be one ambitious attempt to nonetheless create her and preserve her for eternity.

Bakker makes whole series of portraits and shots of female nudes, in the hope of distilling separate elements, each perfect in themselves, out of this collection. Some day these - in a new composition - will epitomise perfect beauty.

Like an alchemist Bakker experiments with photographic techniques, extreme exposure times and chemical processes. He places his models in timeless settings; only the light matters, and not the space. The young women pose without embarrassment before the old pinhole camera. They expose themselves to the light-sensitive paper exactly as long as it takes to leave their essence fixed upon it. In the intimacy as the shot is taken, at first they belong only to the photographer, but later they belong to each of us a bit too.

With an introduction by writer Han Schoonhoven
Hardcover, fullcolor and duotone
Size 17x22cm, 80 pages
Dutch/English
ISBN 978-9076703-39-8
Distribution: Idea Books
Publication: 2009
Design: Hans Miedema