Nick Helderman
Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider (The Luyas)
Created by Nick Helderman in 2011. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 70 x 48 cm.
How would you create a portrait of a rock band? An official portrait made in a studio, or a picture taken during a live performance? The Dutch photographer Nick Helderman opted for a different approach: he portrayed the members of indie rock band The Luyas, Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider, at an unguarded moment of leisure and play. Two elements stand out in this photograph: the action and the scale. The two band members are photographed while playing with a small blue ball, their postures capturing the dynamism of the moment. The band members are also photographed from a distance, with one even turned away from the camera. As a result, the two men draw comparatively less attention than the empty street, the bare walls, and the abstract construction towering above them. Nick Helderman’s work was displayed during Music &Foam, an exhibition staged in collaboration with Amsterdam’s music magazine Subbacultcha. Music &Foam was the second exhibition of a series in which Foam focused on the overlap between photography and other artistic media.
© Nick Helderman, courtesy of the Foam Collection