Published by Steidl. Foreword by Anthony McCarten, Yasmina Reza.
In this portrait series, artist, writer and publisher Philipp Keel (born 1968) captures the people behind the art. This encompasses not only artists but also art collectors, art lovers, dealers, curators and gallery directors—all of whom contribute to the art world ecosystem and flock to the premier modern and contemporary art fairs held by Art Basel in Hong Kong, Basel and Miami Beach. Keel’s images portray these rarefied, highly anticipated events. Walking around the fairs’ corridors, he selects his subjects intuitively, drawn to their self-presentation. By positioning them beside the art on display, an exchange between art and art enthusiast emerges. As the distinction between art and image becomes increasingly hazy, the portraits underscore how the two are mutually reinforcing, bound together by the flow of commerce. The book features over 400 photographs, reflecting the vibrant excess of the art fair.
Splash presents a rigorous selection of Philipp Keel's photographs from the last decade. Keel's luminous, color-intense images celebrate the pleasure and strange beauty of random details and objects. While his bold style may appear spontaneous, Keel meticulously experiments with the processes of image creation in the darkroom, condensing forms and tones so that everyday subjects adopt abstract qualities. Keel's most recent photographs depict motifs in or near water: here objects dissolve in movement, take on a life of their own and entrance us with a shimmering ambiguity.
Philipp Keel: Splash