Léon Hendrickx

Léon Hendrickx is an Amsterdam-based artist and photographer. He started his photographic career as a university scholar, absorbing the theories of visual arts and photography at the University of Leiden and the Rijks Academy The Hague. In the meantime, he was taught the trade while working as an assistant to the artists and photographers of the Dutch fashion and advertising industry. This is where Hendrickx developed his interest and skills for the technical possibilities of photography and how he was able utilize the technology to make his dreams visually seem real.

On the topic of visual imagination, for Hendrickx, the possibilities seem endless. Being intrigued by the extraordinary, the bizarre and strange, yet fantastic, he is determined and exhaustive about the idea of ‘realness’ of his subjects. He wants to make sure that the viewer believes what he creates, whether what’s depicted is real or not. When this condition in his work is met, Hendrickx can get away with everything, which, of course, is wonderful.

In his series “KINGS & QUEENS,” Hendrickx is struck by the art of drag. For him, drag means the becoming of another person; another character that resides inside oneself. How does someone like that relate to his own individual? Hendrickx found a specific way of portraying both persons in the same image, thereby showing how two characters, wrapped up in the same body, are intertwined.

United Photo Industries (UPI)

United Photo Industries (UPI) is a New York based nonprofit organization that works to promote a wider understanding of, and increased access to, the art of photography.

Since its founding in 2011, UPI has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by continuing to showcase thought-provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe. In its first seven years, UPI has presented the work of more than 2,500 visual artists in gallery exhibitions and public art installations worldwide.