Paul Bogaers
In the exhibition My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Foam presents work by Paul Bogaers (Tilburg, 1961) which he created in the last five years.

During this period, his work has developed from two-dimensional studies to the three-dimensional domain of assemblage, sculpture and installation, where photography plays a vital role. Bogaers also uses papier mâché – a material not often embraced by fine artists.

Association and suggestion were important aspects of Bogaers’ visual language from the outset. With his combinations of photographs, often using ‘objets trouvés’ such as amateur photographs, pages torn from books and other visual material, he invites the viewer to discover surprising links. Bogaers has never contented himself with the power of photography to reproduce exact representations of the visible world around us. In contrast, he’s constantly searching for ways to capture the internal world in images. Bogaers combines various media in an attempt to push the absolute limits of photography as an artistic medium.

The title My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (taken from the acclaimed 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, who in turn borrowed it from a novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola) refers to the Geestenbos (Bush of Ghosts) that Bogaers says he visits in his studio on a daily basis. His most recent work illuminates the artist’s fascination with African voodoo cultures, as well as the invisible and the supernatural.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, City of Amsterdam, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

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Paul Bogaers