Danziger Gallery is pleased to announce its representation of the Dutch artist Carla van de Puttelaar and our first show of her work. Best known for her luminous nude studies characterized by their exquisite use of light and subtle color, van de Puttelaar's pictures engage the sense of touch almost as much as the sense of sight. Human skin becomes its own landscape – a place where every freckle, crease, and mark is a noted event.
This exhibition showcases work from 1998 to the present where van de Puttelaar’s photographs, whether of women or flowers, tread a fine line between the sensual and an almost medical dispassion. Shot against darkened backgrounds, and illuminated by the special quality of natural Dutch light, the works create a daring fusion of beauty and realism enabled by the artist’s careful control of composition.
In a 2009 interview with the writer Joerg Colberg, van de Puttelaar explained “The female body is my source of inspiration. I have my own tale to tell, which is different from what nude images the media want to show. I am especially interested in the skin, the sensations that give away somebody’s mood. I also like the differences in women’s bodies as a whole, which show their individuality and their many different forms of beauty. I often hear from both men and women that my work could only be made by a woman and that is the biggest compliment I can get. I certainly believe that most of nude photos we see are made from the typical male point of view. Through my photos of women I can express myself as a woman. Again very autobiographical.”
Carla van de Puttelaar (b. 1967) is a graduate of the renowned Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Her work has been exhibited in The Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Korea and the United States. Collections holding van de Puttelaar's work include Museum Winterhur (Switzerland), Huis Marseille Museum voor Fotografie (The Netherlands), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). She has had her work published in numerous press publications, with a monograph published by Le Caillou Bleu (Belgium) in 2008.