Hernan Bas: Perinnial affairs

Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse, Zurich

Paintings and drawings of different dimensions (from 244 cm x 275 cm to 30.5 cm x 23 cm) will be on view. For the first time, Hernan Bas will be presenting two photographic series. One series called A Bunch of Fairies consists of 13 black-and-white photographs relating to the book The Cottingley Photographs and Their Sequel by Edward Gardner, published in 1945: Towards the end of World War II, two young girls from Yorkshire produced a series of photographs in which they can be seen depicted together with fairies. Experts in the field of photography as well as spiritualists were very excited about finding out how these photographs had been created. This resulted in a controversial discussion lasting several years. Only on her deathbed did one of the girls confess that the works had been manipulated. Hernan Bas took his photographs in Ferney, a magical botanical garden in Detroit, being mainly fascinated by the narrative, the enigmatic and the unspoiled.

 

In his second photographic series called Plenty Of Fish In The Sea, Bas presents young boys playing in the sea with self-made shark fins; while diving, only the shark fins are visible and therefore the illusion of being confronted with real sharks is created. This series, as well, consists of black-and-white photographs. In general, the artist is interested in playing with schematic conventions such as genre and basic narrative tools. In this context, he might concentrate on the topic of isolation making use of the forms that are applied to convey that sentiment in contemporary romance literature and romantic literature of the 18^th century. Through his work with subtle metaphors and historical forms, Hernan Bas manages to express a whole array of ideas or desires.

In the large-scale painting The Ornamental Hermit (244 cm x 275 cm), we can recognise a bourgeois country estate in the background. The foreground shows dead pheasants hanging from the branches and just beside, a young man is intent on killing another one, to bid farewell while being observed surreptitiously by another young man (as can be seen on the image on of the invitation card (detail)). In another large-scale painting called A Satanist On A Sunday, we can see a young man lying on a bed in a richly decorated room and absorbed in reading a book. It has been a while since Hernan Bas last painted interiors. Especially after moving from Miami to Detroit in 2009, he was instead fascinated by the northern landscapes he encountered.