Sometimes natural phenomena can become so estranged and mysterious, that we are inclined to describe them as unreal realities. It might be the extraordinary shape of a tree, a mountain, a shadow, a cloud or the mirroring reflection of nature in a lake, but it is foremost the unfamiliarity of the natural aesthetics of reality. Misha de Ridder’s works can be seen as attempts to capture these temporary phenomena and atmospheres of nature within the still medium of photography. By seeking for the absence of human intervention, by waiting for the climax of the temporal aesthetic and by pushing the camera to its technical limits De Ridder’s photographs become both exotic reports as autonomous artificial worlds.
"To search, to disclose and to write with light is what Misha de Ridder does in his landscape photos and videos. He does not seek the comfort zone of the beautiful and picturesque, but the sublime. It is a quest for entering into a confrontation with nature as a given larger than ourselves, to re-visualize a greatness that is both realistic but also inconceivable. Landscape is a paradox: how can we hold as an image what perhaps can't be photographed, the change of light for example, or the tactility of the landscape. The greatness lifts us beyond borders we are not always able to comprehend, not mentally, nor in feeling. Landscape is not only seen, but is a multi-sensory experience with knowledge and craft.”
Professor Erik A. de Jong, opening speech 'Solstice' FOAM, 2011
“As an artist, De Ridder makes images that could easily become saccharine calendar art or empty exercises in sublime kitsch. Arctic sunsets, verdant dunes and dense forests have all been De Ridder's subjects, but he has always succeeded in pushing them to a new level and forced us to look again - either through inventive design in the case of Wilderness or editorial restraint and focus, as in the case of Dune. In some ways, De Ridder's works are so forcefully anachronistic that they are contemporary. It takes a brave and talented soul to tackle the sublime landscape and succeed like De Ridder.”
Adam Bell, PhotoEye Magazine, 2011
Misha de Ridder (1971, Alkmaar, The Netherlands) lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
De Ridder exhibited at Juliètte Jongma Gallery, Layr Wuestenhagen Contemporary, PhotoEspaña,
the Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam,
Foam photography museum Amsterdam, The Museum of the City of New York.
