Carrara

For Carrara, Koen Vernimmen is in search of a delicate sensitivity that carries a certain weight. The faces of his models are subdued, their bodies almost landscapes. In some of the photos, their skin looks polished, as if it is carved out of stone. All of them exude a timeless, classic, almost distant namelessness. The images are silent with a muffled siren in the background that keeps the viewer on their toes. Vernimmen’s compositions stem from an affinity with Italian marble sculptures. In the photographs, the fine stone cloths adhering to carved out people become lightweight veils that conceal and reveal. Transparent fabrics provide a tenuous cover for the almost anonymous women who appear to us in all their fragility. It is no coincidence that the artist chose to print on a rather small scale; these dimensions let the images thrive the most. The delicacy of his photographs comes to the fore in using platinum palladium print, handcrafted in a dark room. Vernimmen's style is in search of a thorough aesthetic with a classic approach. His choice for radical black and white in combination with bodily curves evokes a stylised image of serenity.