TOMER KEP

Tomer Kep's abstract watercolors or acrylic paintings, which are artworks in their own right, are integrated into his photographs as an enigmatic background, replacing the back wall of the photographic set and raising questions concerning the nature of the photographed site. Kep's photographs have an intentionally nostalgic, old-fashioned character. The domestic spaces he photographs appear to be suffused with personal and familial memories, which are alluded to by traces of his parents' presence – a photographed drawing of his mother, or a passport photograph of his father as a young man. The painted background, which at times resembles a stormy sky, infuses the painting with a somewhat meditative quality that seems to sever the scenes of the domestic space in which they were photographed, endowing them with the appearance of a dream that cannot be related to a specific time or place. A similarly surreal quality infuses the photographs by Roger Ballen, which capture a series of enigmatic paintings and wall drawings. These images raise questions concerning the site in which they were photographed, which appears at once as a concrete place and as an emotional space. Ballen has long been documenting life on the margins of South-African society. The works featured in this exhibition, which are all part of the series "Boarding House," focus on sculptural and linear elements in abandoned houses in Johannesburg's impoverished neighborhoods. This series was photographed in a squat temporarily inhabited by various homeless people. This strange, crowded space is filled with broken furniture, junk, and debris that attests to the lives lived in this place. The walls are covered with expressive drawings that resemble simple yet dark children's drawings, infused with agitated, restless, uncontrollable brushstrokes.