Lot 89: VIVIANE SASSEN (b.1972 Dutch)

VIVIANE SASSEN (b.1972 Dutch)
Kathleen, 2000
chromogenic print
signed in ink on typed label with credit, title, date and edition '5/5' on backing board
50 x 40in. (125 x 100cm.)

DISTINCTIVELY DUTCH
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Artist's Resale Right ("droit de Suite"). If the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer also agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
This work is number 5 from the sold-out edition of 5 + 2 AP.

Sassen's first experiment in using shadow to blot out details and reduce features to silhouettes, Kathleen is a vibrant and graphic reworking of portraiture. By blocking direct sunlight with a precise cut-out of the subjects head and neck, Sassen produced heightened contrast between the silhouette of the girl and the sun-washed cityscape of Amsterdam. The strikingly bold contrast of dark and light renders this portrait a series of shapes and colours. The overall effect subverts the identity of the individual beneath the overriding aesthetic concern for composition and form, while pointing to the complexities of representation and identity.

Sassen received her MA from the Royal Academy, Ateliers Arnhem. Her works have been shown internationally, including exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and forthcoming solo shows at FOAM Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam in November 2008 and FORMA International Center for Photography, Milan in 2009. In 2007 she was the winner of the Prix de Rome. She has been widely published and was included in the 2006 Taschen book Fashion Now 2. Sassen lives and works in Amsterdam.