Surrounding a human eye with thousands of dried leaves, I was struck by the idea for the project: “make face with leaves.”
Before I embark on a new project, I always research work done by other artists. I came across the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian Renaissance painter known for creating composite heads made of fruits and vegetables. This was a big disappointment. Someone, somewhere had already thought of this and had executed his idea magnificently.
De Musset said that “Perfection does not exist”. If it did, improving upon it would be impossible. Art, just like science, is incremental. Art is pushing the boundaries of our understanding. It’s the act of creating something novel. It’s breaking a world record. It’s discovery.
While my art pays homage to a long tradition in art history, it is mostly concerned with the exploration of Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to living and non-living things, and Pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon where we perceive familiar patterns, especially faces, where none exist. Magritte famously said “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”, equally one could say “This is not a face”, and yet our powers of abstraction, a power that is uniquely human, allow us to see a face. My art hijacks the cognitive processes in your brain to not only make you think that you are seeing a face, but that you are seeing a being with real emotions. The Arcimboldo Series brings a fantasy back to life.
Artist Bios
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Klaus Enrique
Klaus Enrique began to receive attention in 2007 when his portrait “Mother & Daughter” was selected for the Photographic Portrait Prize at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. In 2011, Enrique was the winner of PDN’s Curator Award/Emerging Artist of the Year. In 2013, his “Vertumnus” was included in “The History of Still Life in Ten Masterpieces”, as the 10th Masterpiece alongside works by Cezanne, Goya, and Warhol. In 2015 Enrique was commissioned by Peter Norton, the Chairman of MoMA PS1, to create his renowned Christmas card. His photography has been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, El Mundo, Photo District News, Wired, Photograph, The Daily Mail, Popular Photography, The Huffington Post, Vice, and Hi-Fructose Magazine among many others. His works has been the subject of two solo museum shows, at the Griffin Museum of Photography and at Fundacion Pedro Meyer, as well as numerous solo and group shows. Enrique’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Leslie/Lohman Museum and the Haggerty Museum of Art. He currently resides in New York City.
Organizations
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The Seaport
The Seaport is New York City’s original neighborhood, a maritime hub of history, culture, entertainment, and dining, located along the East River in Lower Manhattan. The neighborhood celebrates emerging and resident artists, local organizations, and community connectivity through its curated events & activations, including its public art program, Seaport Arts.
The Arcimboldo Series
Featuring: Klaus Enrique
Locations
View Location Details The South Street Seaport19 & 23 Fulton Street, as well as windows on the corner of Fulton & Front Streets
New York, NY 10038
