Paul Kooiker's exhibition 'FASHION' showcases his distinctive approach to fashion photography, characterized by timelessness and surrealism. The artist captures major fashion brands and famous faces, transporting them into independent, dreamlike worlds that play on dark desires and subconscious themes.
The exhibition 'FASHION' by Paul Kooiker at Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam delves into the artist's unique perspective on contemporary fashion photography, which stands apart from fleeting trends due to its inherent timelessness. Kooiker portrays prominent fashion brands and well-known personalities, situating them within surreal, self-contained narratives that evoke cinematic stills and invite speculative storytelling. His work consciously breaks away from dominant beauty paradigms, cultivating an 'unmanageable' form of beauty that is less superficial and more Freudian, exploring dark desires, fetishisms, and subconscious dreams. Photography in this exhibition transcends conventional gender roles, with models in unusual poses and their identities often obscured, blurring the lines between human and doll. By magnifying the presentation of luxury objects, Kooiker ultimately captures our own desire. Notably, all works are created using an iPhone, using a tool of mass adoption to craft a parallel world detached and inimitable. 'FASHION' compiles a diverse array of images from his fashion commissions, forming an encompassing installation that functions as a hall of mirrors, halting the fashion industry's rapid pace and exposing the absurdity of human vanity and desire.