Bozeman, MT
Monuments: Baobab, 2002
Modern ambrotype (silver emulsion on black glass), hand colored pigment prints, buttons, wire, wood, oil paint, mud,gold leaf, shellac.
Image size: 21 x 24 inches
$2,100 framed
To Purchase Contact 23 Sandy Gallery
www.ianvancoller.com
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My artwork has been primarily influenced by my experience of growing up as a white male in South Africa during the apartheid era, and my intent is to explore my own complicity in colonialism, neo-colonialism, and apartheid. This body of work deals with the colonial legacies that have become the social and economic realities of a modern South Africa. Each piece is an exploration of how Euro-centered attitudes have affected my personal history, as well as how they helped construct notions of Africa as the “dark continent.” In an attempt to resolve these dramatically different influences on my life, and to come to terms with my place in the world, I have made very specific choices about the images, materials, and the frames. This body of work originated with the idea of Zambian “memory boards” as a way to trace personal memory/history, as well as the social memory/ history of South Africa. The frames themselves are transformed into objects that carry content in and of themselves, rather than merely encasing a photograph. Old family snapshots or culturally significant images and texts are also inserted in the frame, expressing the tension between the African and European influences on my identity.
Artist Biography
van Coller was raised in South Africa during apartheid. He received a BFA from ASU in 1996. From 1996-2000 he worked as an artist and a printer and co-owner of Segura Publishing. In 2003 van Coller received his MFA from UNM. He is currently an Assistant Professor at MSU.
All images and text copyright the artist. All rights reserved.
