Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk
Mr. Schattenkerk refers his photographic work to the epitome of nature. He creates an imaginary space age in a fragmented, parallel world both inside and outside the cosmography of Crichton, which takes form in the revelation of aliens and the most abstract details. His source of inspiration and starting point is his vivid imagination and a deep knowledge of genre literature; this is the case of Andromeda Strain, which is named after the 1971 science fiction movie directed by Robert Wise based on a 1969 novel by Michael Crichton. In this book, a team of scientists investigates a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism. Mr. Schattenkerk tests the limits of natural photography and joining it with the artificial one – reproduction, combining in his photo series of life shots with exemplary creations carried out in his studio. He shows the complex biological and geological processes with unusual elements and materials. The union resulting from the fictitious process of this hybrid backdrop makes it hard to distinguish the different elements: the natural panorama seems artificial at times and the in-studio creation looks like a shot secretly taken in a lab or during an expedition. His use of light is masterly - as seen in his panaromas of salt crystals that look like gigantic creatures forged by nature and bad weather; seaweeds and marine plant life rendered in their habitat; the micro forest on fire. Mr. Schattenkerk is able to find exotic places in his daily spaces, some works, especially the rocky landscapes, reproduce views of Amsterdam that look like Persia, Afghanistan or the setting of a Western film!
Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk, was born in 1974 in Holland, graduated from the School of Photography in the famous Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Since he graduated in 2007, lives and works in Amsterdam, and exhibits in various projects in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2008 he was awarded the prize of photography dell'Hyères Festival in France. He has exhibited in the Netherlands, all'Amesterdam Centre for Photography, the Museum Waterland, the Seelevel Gallery. Last year he participated in the group show dell'ISWA European project at the Museum Botanical Garden of Rome, now has his first solo exhibition in a gallery in Italy.
Works
