Roger Ballen launches ‘Ballenesque’
Join Roger Ballen for the launch of his retrospective monograph ‘Ballenesque’ on August 21.
Image: Supplied
Roger Ballen is one of the most important and original art photographers working today.
He is best known for his probing, often challenging images that exist in a space between painting, drawing, installation and photography. Yet, until now, no comprehensive retrospective on his work has been released.
Based on an entirely new appraisal of Ballen’s archive, one that looks beyond his monographic projects for the first time, Ballenesque takes the reader on a visual chronological tour of the photographer’s entire oeuvre, including the iconic images and previously unpublished works. At the heart of the book is Ballen’s own exploration of his style — of those particular qualities that make his work so compellingly his own.
Featuring reflective and engaging texts by the artist himself, Ballenesque offers a distinctly personal account of the photographer’s career to date. His reflections include rare and privileged insights into the artist’s photographic practice and the major influences that have helped to shape his worldview. Each of the key stages in Ballen’s creative journey is explored — a journey that has been both an outward and inward exploration of the self.
With more than 300 photographs and an introduction by cultural theorist and critic Robert JC Young, Ballenesque provides not only an entirely new way of seeing Ballen’s work for those already familiar with his career, but also a comprehensive introduction for those encountering his photographs for the first time.
In this second, revised edition, Thames and Hudson add two new chapters: one on Ballen’s colour photography, and another on his Covid-19 lockdown drawings.
Article provided by Jonathan Ball Publishers, an imprint of Thames and Hudson
Comments are closed.