Article published in De Gelderlander, 25th February 2011 - edition Nijmegen.
Artist
Karin Buchholtz makes digital photographs, picturing old Fairy Tales of
the Brothers Grimm.
‘Photographs made at dusk are the best’
Karin Buchholtz from Lent has graduated in Painting ánd Photography. She likes painting best, but her photographs currently draw the most attention and are on show in Los Angeles (USA) and the main library In Nijmegen (NL). (by Jaap Bak)
Karin Buchholtz has a laborious way of painting. First she takes photographs, which look like every day snapshots. These are printed on canvas and then covered with very thin transparent layers of acrylic paint. They are coloured and coated with paint. They look like paintings but they aren’t. ‘They are no coloured photographs like you use to have’ explains the artist. You see the photograph through the paint with surprisingly details, when you watch carefully. Karin Buchholtz has graduated in painting and photography ‘at a later stage in life’ she tells in her studio in Lent. ‘I went to Art School when I was 41’.
She regards herself as a painter, or ‘a painting photographer’. Recently her photographs have earned more fame. At the moment she has an exhibition in the main library in Nijmegen but also in Los Angeles, USA. At the exhibition ‘Snap to Grid’ only digital photo’s are accepted. So is mine: ‘An image of a quit street in Lent during dusk’. ‘For me dusk is an exciting moment of the day and the light is great’ Her photo series ‘Hansl and Gretl’ and ‘Red Riding Hood’ are also made at dusk. Both series of 6 photo’s which show stylized and alienate images of the old fairytales of the Brothers Grimm. Buchholtz likes to photograph with the existing light. Precisely at dusk because she can use the artificial light of the streetlanterns or the light which shines through the windows. ‘I don’t use a flashlight’. The photographs of Red Riding Hood are made in Lent, in the John Lennon street. In the grey backgroud only the three main characters have colour: red for Red Riding Hood, green for the hunter and blue for the wolf.
The serie was exhibited in the community center of Lent last year. It immediately lead to a complaint from a mother. She thought the photographs to be too upsetting for children. ‘A car chases Red Riding Hood, a black car’, tells Karin, ‘I had a shock when I heard about the complaint, should I remove the photoseries?’ It didn’t happen. Her photoseries and her paintings went to Amsterdam. To artists’ society Arti et Amicitiae (founded 1839), at which she was accepted as a member last year. Karin sees this as an appreciation and recognition of fellow artists. ‘You have to be voted by balot ‘. Her art work was approved and now the renowed Amsterdam art society has an artist from Lent as a member.
Her storytelling photographs of Hansl and Gretl are now on show in the library. The photo’s represent young people. A boy and a girl. In real life the models are also brother and sister. The setting is Lent with a view of the Waalbridge. Six simple photographs made at dusk. A neighbour acted as ‘witch’. Of course at dusk. In total Karin made some 200 photographs from which she chose the best six.
Article (PDF) published in De Gelderlander, 25th of February 2011 - edition Nijmegen.
Review of Karin Buchholtz’ work
From:
Tubelight 45; review magazine for contemporary art
Edition: July/August 2006;
Title article: “Fear of beards at 'Maximum Resolution' show.”
Author: ms. Anne de Haan
For the third consecutive year CBK Gelderland selected a “colorful” collection of works of art, that had been sampled on website www.gelderland.bkdoc.nl in the previous year. CBK Nijmegen organized the analog presentation of this digital gallery under the title: “Maximum Resolution”. Five works of art in this exhibition stand out …
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The painting “Filmstill 9 – the brick factory” (2006) by Karin Buchholtz expresses suspense and mystery. A boy stands with his back against the doorpost of a deserted storehouse in the evening twilight. He looks out carefully. You want to know what the boy is doing. Is he on the run for a gang of thugs or is he up to something and that he has to keep out of sight of the factory’s security.
The mysteriousness of the setting in combination with the dark colors of the sky and the deserted landscape remind you of magical realistic paintings. The picture could be used as a poster for a psychological thriller.
Buchholtz has been inspired by film before. A series of paintings made in 2005 were called film stills by her. She also made a series of staged photographs in the Arnhem central railway station area. She asked passers-by to act as “models” in the scenery and framework that she had chosen. She considers these photos as part of a storyboard for a possible future film. These pictures of people in a phone booth or a dark bar, set in the twilight of the passing day have thriller like expressions.