Studio Visit (2023)

Studio Visit (2023)

Studio Visit is a growing series of staged photographs showing myself in different alter ego figures performing in studios of other artists. The work is focusing on the aura of the studio, how it’s arranged, what medias appear, and which part or angle of the studio is being shown. The studios are being slightly modified and rearranged to show the “authentic” working space, for example by moving brushes and paint into the foreground or spread them across the floor. The studio is captured in a “work in progress” moment which suggests activeness and productivity. With this arranged situation the studio becomes a stage set or a photographic background.
Throughout art history the performative nature of portraiture has been used by artists to construct their own selfimage. The alter ego figures are designed for the spaces they appear in. Their looks are inspired by the studio itself, like what interior architecture is present, what kind of medias, techniques and colours appear as well as gender and character cliches from the contemporary art world. The characters also emerge from a fascination for different artist archetypes I see on social media and studio visit documentaries and by reenacting them I’m doing more of a pastiche.
In the photographs I do not represent the real owners of the studios, rather I’m appropriating the studios by performing versions of myself, representing directions I could have taken in my own artistic practice. With every character I’m playing with the awareness of the performative self and how I want to be perceived by others. I’m directly connecting the artistic work with a person, which functions like a proof or a confirmation, a strategy we see often used for commercial reasons, so a buyer knows where the “product” comes from. Every time I’m taking up a new role, I’m telling a different story about myself and my “artistic practice” by taking ownership of the place, the medias and the clothes my body moves in. It‘s the way how we disguise to be perceived by others and the superficiality we have to deal with daily, that is inspiring me.