South African, born 1971 in Cape Town.
Lives and works in Paris.
Vivian van Blerk has lived and worked in Paris since 1996. He tends to work in great narrative series, having created more than 18 since 1994. The principal ones are :
Attics 1 & 2 (1994-95), A Cow Travels through Space and Time and Confronts her Mortality (1998-2000), Hippopotamus and Destiny (2000-01), From A New World (2001-2004), Four Seasons (2005 –06), The Seven Deadly Vices (2007), Ephemeron (2008), Public Flesh (2009), Eden Park (2009), Into the World (2010) Metamorphoses (2011), I and my Chimney (2011-13). Island Lives (2013) was inspired by his stay on Paxos in 2013.
Models for "Winter" and "Summer" (from the series Four Seasons) in the artist’s studio.
All his photos require more than a month’s work since they are shots of elaborate sets constructed by the artist. The sets vary in size from about three feet high and deep to seven and eight feet for the Four Seasons and are composed of a great variety of sculpted animals and objects placed in painted décors patiently built and carefully illuminated by the artist. Since 2002 the artist has also re-thought the colours of his photographs by tinting the negatives and has introduced the technique of photomontage which further enriches his process.
The result is a sophisticated photographic synthesis of sculpture, painting, architecture, perspective, and trompe l’oeil which is unique in contemporary photography.
website : http://www.vivianvanblerk.com