Eric Bell
with Kristoffer Frick
Since they began working together in 2006, Eric Bell and Kristoffer Frick’s practice has evolved out of an ongoing dialogue and exchange of images, texts, and materials. A collaborative approach based on mutual influences and interests forms the foundation of their work, enabling them to give form to ideas that are not limited to a single artistic perspective. Spanning photography, video, and installation, their practice typically involves the presentation and staging of found objects, ranging from the ordinary to finely crafted cultural artefacts. Drawing from histories of cinema, advertising, and industrial photography, they create pictures that examine the codes and aesthetics of modern representation systems.
Over the past several years, photography has become the predominant medium for their work. This has led them to consider the still life genre as a way to examine objects that frame or embody contemporary crises—environmental, social, and spiritual. The decadent and sensuous depiction of objects within this framework holds interest for them as a point from which to work within and against conventions of image making. Ultimately, staging is an essential part of their practice, both as a means to reflect on the constructed nature of images and to evoke narratives, subjectivities, and associations that extend beyond their work.
EDUCATION
2012
De Ateliers
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2010, MA
HfBK Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, Germany
2007, Honors BA in Comparative Literature and Visual Arts
University of Western Ontario
London, Canada
JURY
Kirsty Bell
Bettina Götz
Hou Hanru
Markus Schinwald
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
FINAL PROJECT
