unseen amsterdam

2023

Bradwolff & Partners is pleased to announce that it will again be attending unseen amsterdam on the 21 – 24 september, 2023. And will present new work by Katrin Korfmann, Jaehun Park and Marike Schuurman during Unseen 2023. Visit us at booth 37

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Katrin Korfmann shows two new works from the Homo Ludens series. The works in the Homo Ludens series focus on the importance of imagination and play in our culture and explore the function of play as a cultural connection. Katrin Korfmann: “Play, like art, is a connection between people.” The work Swing shows people dancing in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark Dance is often used as entertainment, but it also has cultural and social meanings, such as expressing emotions, celebrating traditions and strengthening communities. The work Phoenix is set in Amsterdam de Bijlmer and shows children playing during a party at their sports club. Korfmann approaches the locations where she makes her photographic works as biotopes and investigates how people move in that location. She tries to capture the memory of a place by designing a literal image of time. The images are powerful (partly due to their unusual perspectives), usually in the public space and involve the viewer in what is happening in those images.

Jaehun Park shows new video work “Twig Room”, made using 3D scanning technology that translates physical substances into virtual substances, such as polygon structures and point cloud systems (a series of data points in space). Inside the dark concrete room, a single twig slowly rotates, creating a dynamic waterfall. Concrete is a mixture of cement and water that has been used since ancient Egypt and the Roman era. It is the second most widely used substance in the world after water. Park uses hyper-realistic 3D renderings to stage mass-produced objects as vessels of ideology. His virtual works address current problematic events on Earth by zooming in on cleverly chosen metaphors and objects. In his practice he combines digital ready-made objects with natural phenomena. Through the things people produce, he shows how they live and what they feel, believe or think. Park makes three-dimensional computer animations to visualize our reality, which according to him consists of consumerism, a penchant for spirituality. The result is situations, interiors and landscapes that are as beautiful as they are dark.

Marike Schuurman shows works from the series Toxic and Flashback in which reflection on meta perspectives in photography is central. In Toxic, subject and object merge in an investigation into the toxic human footprint of lignite mining. This leads to huge craters in the landscape. These are often filled with water for tourist purposes, among other things. It takes about 20 years for the water to reach a pH value in which life can take place. Until then, the water is too acidic. Schuurman made polaroids of the water surface and developed them in this ‘poisonous’ water. The different pH values of the water, interacting with the acids of the Polaroids themselves, resulted in a variety of texture and color. For Flashback, Schuurman examines the aftermath of photography. Magnified images of discharged or faulty flashbulbs allow us to get a closer look at the potentially destructive power of light. The smooth glass surface becomes mutilated with spherical discoloration, while wires become entangled within. Schuurman focuses on the process, emphasizing the transformation and destruction behind the photo.

Marike Schuurman’s artistic work traverses spaces and landscapes, interweaving them with the fascinating world of photography. It results in an enchanting dance of concepts and sensory impressions. Her images invite reflection on what we see when we look at a photo and what was actually there.

Resume artists

Katrin Korfmann [DE, 1971] studied at the Kunsthochschule Berlin and Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she specialized in photography and continued her research with residencies at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Cittadellarte in Biella and the Chinese-European Art Center in Xiamen, China. Her work has been exhibited internationally since the late 1990s. Her work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including in the United States: C21, Bill and Christy Gautreaux, Fidelity, Twitter; in Germany: Würth Foundation, Alison & Peter W. Klein, European Patent Office, Robert Bosch Foundation; in the Netherlands: Drake collection, AMC Art Collection, AkzoNobel Art Collection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague Museum of Photography, Carla & Hugo Brown and UMC Utrecht. She has won several prizes, including the Radostar Prize (CH), the Prix de Rome (2nd prize) and the Esther Kroon Award (NL).

Jaehun Park (KR, 1986) studied painting at Seoul National University and did a Master’s in Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Recent exhibitions he has participated in: CASSTL Antwerp (2023), Beijing Biennial of Art CN (2023), solo Art Rotterdam, Bradwolff Partners (2023), Museum JAN, Amstelveen (2022), Ulsan Art Museum (2022), Alternative space loop Seoul (2021), Photo Basel (2021), Project Space 1646 The Hague (2019) His work is part of various collections, including in the Netherlands: Municipal art collection Amstelveen, LAM Museum, Normec art collection and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, abroad: Ulsan Museum of Art, The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, and Seoul National University Health Service Center.

Marike Schuurman [NL,1964] studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. She was artist-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Bethaniën in Berlin, Germany (2003), Beijing, China (2008) and São Paulo, Brazil (2009). Her work has been exhibited at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, FOAM, Amsterdam, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland and KINDL, Center for Contemporary Art, Berlin, among others. Her work is part of collections such as Sammlung Hoffmann in Berlin, in the Netherlands; Achmea Art Collection, FOAM Photography Museum Amsterdam, KPN Art Collection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Océ Art Property Foundation. She works in Berlin.