David Van Royen
“_Him self_ is a body of work looking at the ideas of masculinity and the changing face of the man landscape. Men paused (still) in a domestic space (their homes) and placed in a particular pose guided by the visual artist. The men are between 25 and 35 with no fixed profession but are all doing many tasks/ambitions in their day. The day of the office has changed and a lot of men are working from home or using their domestic space as the base to their everyday. The images look at the relationship between the subject to the environment as well as the still element of photography. There is no returned stare as to allow the viewer the freedom to look at the study rather than calling it a portrait.
Mattress involved photographing abandoned mattresses left in alleyways around Melbourne (hence the titles). The mattress is a very personal belonging that is just placed in the street for all to see, like a diary of someone’s life. Was there love on the mattress or [did it belong to] someone single? Ouders is the body of work on my parents, as many artists have grown older they begin to look at where they have come from and what influences are obvious. I love the Dutch painters/masters and have looked at my parents and their life in Perth as Dutchees! In the Middle is a series about being stuck and then using one strong colour to describe an emotional space or state. Here I have freed myself up to take pictures of subjects stuck in the middle of here and there. Art school can play with your head and motivation and this series just gave me the vehicle to look at other frames and colour.”
(David Van Royen 2007)
