ARC Fine Art Figurative Photography

'Cold Song III' exemplifies the avant-garde evolution of underwater fine art photography, merging contemporary conceptual art with technical mastery. This ethereal composition captur...

This mesmerizing underwater fine art photograph captures a dancer suspended in dark waters, draped in flowing copper-red fabric that creates striking contrast against pale skin. The ...

"After the Dance" Photography 24" x 32" in Edition of 10 by Lika Brutyan Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Not framed. Ships in a tube. Lika Brutyan is Ameri...

Each year, Robin Rice celebrates a Salon style exhibition to showcase her gallery artists and invite new ones. With Robin’s extensive experience as a gallery curator, all Robin Rice...

"Unbound II" Photography 36" x 24" inch Edition 1/10 by Aaron Mcpolin Medium: Archival Giclee Print Comes in a white frame. Size framed: 37" x 25" inch ABOUT THE ARTIST: Aaron Mc...

Okurimono Pigment Print About the work : Shibari I is a work by contemporary photographer Christian Houge, from the Okurimono series. In this series, Houge has, through five trips to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto), explored Japans otherworldly subculture and its ritualistic perfection. In this personal art documentary he has ventured into delicate themes such as personal identity, sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The viewers associations are important in meeting this work and ambiguity plays an important role. The images from the Okurimono- series is available in 3 different formats : Images from the Okurimono series is available in 3 different formats : * 50 x 75 cm : edition of 10 + (+2ap) * 80 x 120 cm : edition of 7 + (+2ap) * 113 x 170 cm : edition of 7 + (+2ap) Each print is numbered and signed More work will be sent from the artistry request. christian at soulfood no In this series, Houge has, through five trips to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto), explored Japans otherworldly subculture and its ritualistic perfection. In this personal art documentary he has ventured into delicate themes such as personal identity, sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The viewers associations are important in meeting this work and ambiguity plays a Okurimono (meaning both “gift” and “that which is in-between” in Japanese) - is a word that binds together this comprehensive project developed over five trips to Japan between 2007 and 2018. The series explores the personal pursuit of identity, at times with an underlying darkness as Houge had the chance to be introduced to Tokyo’s subculture. In exploring this theme, Houge has ventured into delicate matters such as sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The artist wishes to question the viewer and provoke a reflection on topics that are often seen as taboos in our contemporary societies. The viewer’s own associations are important in appreciating this work where ambiguity plays an important role. The project started in the Harajuku district of Tokyo which is known as a center of Japanese youth culture and where Houge found some of his first motifs: teenage girls dressing up in post-Victorian dresses or ‘cosplay’ costumes to identify with a character of their favorite comics. Here, the desire to express one’s uniqueness is central and the photographer explores the tension between personal identity and aesthetics shared by all (or at least by the same youth group). In many of his carefully staged photographs, Houge’s models are masked, so as to echo the many social masks we wear in our day-to-day lives. In our post-modern information society, drained of wonder, these enigmatic masked characters also evoke the world of shamans and pagan rituals, therefore injecting a sense of mystery and spirituality that many people are longing for. Symbolism and the many references to ritual and identity in an otherwise suppressed society, may at times create a sense of unease among viewers. The Okurimono project also explores the topic of identity and sexuality in gender dysphoria with Japan’s nyūhāfu (the transsexual ‘new halfs’). Here, the quest for identity coincides with a search of femininity and body image which results in complex physical transformations. Viewers may look at these portraits not having any clue that models are nyūhāfu. Yet, the photographs are staged so that viewers are placed in a disconcerting voyeuristic role while looking at otherwise closed world. Shibari (the art of tying), which originates from the Edo period (1600s), is another territory explored by Houge in his Okurimono series. His striking photographs of female models tied with red rope on a white background take us into this powerful journey into vulnerability and surrender, power and freedom. Through tradition, symbolism and technology, Okurimono also explores the hugely potent symbols that help define parts of Japanese culture and national identity, between old and new. As Art historian Erling Bugge put it: “Christian Houge guides us into a mystery. It resides between the ritualized shapes of the traditional and withdrawn Zen garden in Kyoto and the equally ritualized spaces of futuristic, urban Tokyo. For a westerner, Japan might look familiar, since what is held up for us looks like a futuristic spectacle somehow grounded in a western imagination. This judgment, however, is too easy. In Houge’s photographs, the sense of sameness withdraws and a very different feeling of strangeness creeps up on us. In fact, what this series registers is a remarkable place of alterity in today’s global order, a radical difference bang in the middle of the familiar.” The images of the Okurimono series share a ghostly, otherworldly quality. In reality and dream, ritual and play merge while the boundaries between the known and the unknown dissolve. Christian Houge – Now – Okurimono Christian Houge guides us into a mystery. It resides between the ritualized shapes of the traditional and withdrawn Zen garden in Kyoto and the equally ritualized spaces of futuristic, urban Tokyo. For a westerner, Japan might look familiar, since what is held up for us looks like a futuristic spectacle somehow grounded in a western imagination. This judgment, however, is too easy. In Houge’s photographs, the sense of sameness withdraws and a very different feeling of strangeness creeps up on us. In fact, what this series registers is a remarkable place of alterity in today’s global order, a radical difference bang in the middle of the familiar. This is pushed to the limit in the technological and virtual wonderland of Akihabara in Tokyo, where shop after shop trade in electronic products and computer games, while a weird costume play...

Part of the BLOOMY VIEW series taken in Bern 2020 in collaboration with Heym Collections, the images gained new life in their ambiguity, which often stimulates the viewer to project ...

Summer Games - 2019 40 x 50 cm, Edition of 10 + 2 Artist Proofs. Photograph printed in Hanemühle Baryta Photo Rag 340gr, based on a Fuji Instant Film original (not mounted). Sig...

Okurimono Pigment Print About the work : Shibari I is a work by contemporary photographer Christian Houge, from the Okurimono series. In this series, Houge has, through five trips to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto), explored Japans otherworldly subculture and its ritualistic perfection. In this personal art documentary he has ventured into delicate themes such as personal identity, sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The viewers associations are important in meeting this work and ambiguity plays an important role. The images from the Okurimono- series is available in 3 different formats : Images from the Okurimono series is available in 3 different formats : * 50 x 75 cm : edition of 10 + (+2ap) * 80 x 120 cm : edition of 7 + (+2ap) * 113 x 170 cm : edition of 7 + (+2ap) Each print is numbered and signed More work will be sent from the artistry request. christian at soulfood no In this series, Houge has, through five trips to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto), explored Japans otherworldly subculture and its ritualistic perfection. In this personal art documentary he has ventured into delicate themes such as personal identity, sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The viewers associations are important in meeting this work and ambiguity plays a Okurimono (meaning both “gift” and “that which is in-between” in Japanese) - is a word that binds together this comprehensive project developed over five trips to Japan between 2007 and 2018. The series explores the personal pursuit of identity, at times with an underlying darkness as Houge had the chance to be introduced to Tokyo’s subculture. In exploring this theme, Houge has ventured into delicate matters such as sexuality, longing and gender dysphoria. In this particular series, he uses staging as a method to create a story within a story. The artist wishes to question the viewer and provoke a reflection on topics that are often seen as taboos in our contemporary societies. The viewer’s own associations are important in appreciating this work where ambiguity plays an important role. The project started in the Harajuku district of Tokyo which is known as a center of Japanese youth culture and where Houge found some of his first motifs: teenage girls dressing up in post-Victorian dresses or ‘cosplay’ costumes to identify with a character of their favorite comics. Here, the desire to express one’s uniqueness is central and the photographer explores the tension between personal identity and aesthetics shared by all (or at least by the same youth group). In many of his carefully staged photographs, Houge’s models are masked, so as to echo the many social masks we wear in our day-to-day lives. In our post-modern information society, drained of wonder, these enigmatic masked characters also evoke the world of shamans and pagan rituals, therefore injecting a sense of mystery and spirituality that many people are longing for. Symbolism and the many references to ritual and identity in an otherwise suppressed society, may at times create a sense of unease among viewers. The Okurimono project also explores the topic of identity and sexuality in gender dysphoria with Japan’s nyūhāfu (the transsexual ‘new halfs’). Here, the quest for identity coincides with a search of femininity and body image which results in complex physical transformations. Viewers may look at these portraits not having any clue that models are nyūhāfu. Yet, the photographs are staged so that viewers are placed in a disconcerting voyeuristic role while looking at otherwise closed world. Shibari (the art of tying), which originates from the Edo period (1600s), is another territory explored by Houge in his Okurimono series. His striking photographs of female models tied with red rope on a white background take us into this powerful journey into vulnerability and surrender, power and freedom. Through tradition, symbolism and technology, Okurimono also explores the hugely potent symbols that help define parts of Japanese culture and national identity, between old and new. As Art historian Erling Bugge put it: “Christian Houge guides us into a mystery. It resides between the ritualized shapes of the traditional and withdrawn Zen garden in Kyoto and the equally ritualized spaces of futuristic, urban Tokyo. For a westerner, Japan might look familiar, since what is held up for us looks like a futuristic spectacle somehow grounded in a western imagination. This judgment, however, is too easy. In Houge’s photographs, the sense of sameness withdraws and a very different feeling of strangeness creeps up on us. In fact, what this series registers is a remarkable place of alterity in today’s global order, a radical difference bang in the middle of the familiar.” The images of the Okurimono series share a ghostly, otherworldly quality. In reality and dream, ritual and play merge while the boundaries between the known and the unknown dissolve. Christian Houge – Now – Okurimono Christian Houge guides us into a mystery. It resides between the ritualized shapes of the traditional and withdrawn Zen garden in Kyoto and the equally ritualized spaces of futuristic, urban Tokyo. For a westerner, Japan might look familiar, since what is held up for us looks like a futuristic spectacle somehow grounded in a western imagination. This judgment, however, is too easy. In Houge’s photographs, the sense of sameness withdraws and a very different feeling of strangeness creeps up on us. In fact, what this series registers is a remarkable place of alterity in today’s global order, a radical difference bang in the middle of the familiar. This is pushed to the limit in the technological and virtual wonderland of Akihabara in Tokyo, where shop after shop trade in electronic products and computer games, while a weird costume play...

Okurimono Pigment Print Images from the Okurimono series is available in 3 different formats : * 50 x 75 cm : edition of 10 + (+2ap) * 80 x 120 cm : edition of 7 + (+2ap) * 113 x...

"Unbound" Photography 36" x 24" inch Edition 1/10 by Aaron Mcpolin Medium: Archival Giclee Print Comes in a white frame. Size framed: 37" x 25" inch ABOUT THE ARTIST: Aaron McPol...

Okurimono Pigment Print About the work : Shibari I is a work by contemporary photographer Christian Houge, from the Okurimono series. In this series, Houge has, through five trips...