Ruud van Empel (Breda, 1958) cuts, glues and manipulates his digital photo
collages to create a new world - an ideal, fairy-tale world - using a computer
as his paintbrush. One of the main distinguishing features of his compositions
is their high level of perfection. They are indeed almost too perfect - every
detail, every colour is sublimated. The world created by Van Empel is a
surreal world. His designs may look quite realistic, but what they represent
has in fact never existed. They are creations, subtly and meticulously
composed by their visionary creator. The manipulated images are almost too
beautiful to be true. This unnatural perfection makes Van Empel’s works appear
mysterious and somewhat disturbing – you sense that there is something
malicious lurking beneath the surface, but you don’t know exactly where or
when it may manifest itself.
In his photo works, Ruud van Empel likes to focus on particular themes, which
he works out in phases. Civil servants in their offices in his The Office
(1996-2001) series, scenes viewed from a window in Frame Story (1998-2000) and
femmes fatales in his Study for 4 Women (2000) and The Naarden Studies (2002).
For his latest series, entitled Study in Green, from the years 2003-2004, Van
Empel for the first time chose nature as his main theme. Young schoolgirls in
a forest. Some appear to be the epitome of unblemished innocence, others are
imbued with a disturbing Lolita-like beauty. They are surrounded by coy Bambis
among the greenery, a wolf in a storybook forest, a lost owlet in a hollow
tree or unspoilt wooded scenery. But you only have to look at all that
greener-than-green scenery to know that there are dangers hidden somewhere in
the shrubbery – nameless, indefinable threats, but nonetheless present
everywhere. A feeling of disquiet crawls under your skin and will remain with
you long after you’ve turned your back on the works.
Ruud van Empel is an artist. He worked with the renowned Dutch television
producers Ajan Ederveen and Tosca Niterink on the television series Kreatief
met kurk that was broadcast by the VPRO broadcasting company. He also produced
the television series Ons genoegen (Michiel van Erp) and Televisie (Arjan
Ederveen). As a graphic designer he has designed among other things stamps and
playbills for theatrical companies such as Orkator and De Parade. Since 1996
Ruud van Empel has also produced plastic works. He has won the Charlotte
Köhler Prize and the H.N. Werkman Prize. Ruud van Empel’s photographic works
are included in the collections of the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the
Frisia Museum in Spanbroek, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, the
Rabobank Nederland in Eindhoven and the Netherlands Colección Juan Redón in
Barcelona (Spain).
