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Catharine Clark Gallery

June 16 - July 15, 2012

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248 Utah Street
 San Francisco, CA 94103
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Solo Exhibition Ellen Kooi: "Oosterplas - reflection," 2012, Fuji Crystal Archive, Plexiglass, Reynobond, Edition of 20 + 2 AP, 39 ¼ x 36 inches
Catharine Clark Gallery announces the solo exhibition of works by photographer Ellen Kooi. The exhibition dates are June 16 through July 14, 2012, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 16, from noon to 3pm. The photography of Dutch artist Ellen Kooi is featured in a second solo exhibition at Catharine Clark Gallery. Kooi’s vividly-colored, hyper-sharp, large-scale photographs present moments that have been clipped out of a larger narrative to which the audience is not granted access. The stills—frozen in a silent eeriness—depict deceptively delicate women and children in natural environments that seem unnaturally expansive, dense, or wild: a girl with floor-length locks hides crouched amidst a bramble of red berries, armed with a wooden sword; a boy in oversized vegetation peers into the weeds, in awe of some unknown glow beneath; a misty field of young figures looking not quite menacing, but not benign either. Kooi’s meticulous process (also deceptive, as what looks like a snap from a single scene, is actually the result of hours of orchestration, arrangement, and image manipulation) and detailed control over lighting and composition is coupled with perspectives that are curiously askew, invoking a subtle sense of confusion, danger, isolation, and sometimes transcendence in the viewer. Born in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, Ellen Kooi has exhibited throughout Europe and the United States, including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio; the Photography Biennale and Moscow House of Photography in Moscow, Russia; The Fields Sculpture Park at Omni International Arts Center, Ghent, New York; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla Y León, León, Spain; Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; and Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague, Netherlands. She attended the Art Academy ABK Minerva in Groningen and has been a resident of the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and her most recent catalog, Out Of Sight, was published by Filigranes Editions in 2010. Kooi is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco and P.P.O.W. in New York. She lives and works in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Coinciding with Ellen Kooi's exhibition is Lauren Kelley’s single-channel video, "Upside", presented in the Media Room.
Solo Exhibition Ellen Kooi: "Penningsveer - riet," 2006, Fuji Crystal Archive, Plexiglass, Reynobond, Edition of 10, 35 ½ x 58 ¼ inches
Solo Exhibition Ellen Kooi: "Noordwijk - bessen," 2009; Fuji Crystal Archive, Plexiglass, Reynobond; 25 ½ x 52 ¾ inches