Jaya Pelupessy & Felix van Dam - Traces of the Familiar

Press release | Amsterdam, February 2016

Jaya Pelupessy & Felix van Dam
Traces of the Familiar
18 March – 24 April 2016

From the 18th of March, Foam will display the artwork of the Dutch duo Jaya Pelupessy (1989) and Felix van Dam (1986) in the exhibition Traces of the Familiar. Fascinated by how photography constructs images, they developed a new technique with a camera that combines photography with silkscreen printing. Alongside the results of their experiments – prints that oscillate between silkscreen print and photograph and visually recall the history of photography – they present abstracted images that picture the working process.

Traces of the Familiar illustrates the quest Pelupessy and Van Dam embarked upon to trace known techniques and revisit the origins of photography in order to arrive at new possibilities for the medium. The artists regard the steps in their explorations as equally important to the final product. Thus emphasis lies on the process of construction, where the suggestion of a narrative begins. This suggestion is not only conveyed in the stylistic images of tools utilized for the technique, but also in the final prints that unveil their structure in layers.

Motivated by enthusiastic curiosity, Pelupessy and Van Dam make an inquiry into the structures of photography, and the fictionalising character the medium possesses in its relationship to reality. The exhibition reflects on how objects are translated by the camera, presenting them like archaeological findings. Simultaneously, the artwork reconsiders the original bearer of photography by investigating different ways of presentation. Traces of the Familiar is a kaleidoscopic experience of a new kind of photography in which every image carries a trace of reality, yet never represents it entirely.

This exhibition is made possible with support of the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund and the Van Bijlevelt Foundation.

Traces of the Familiar by Jaya Pelupessy & Felix van Dam can be seen from 18 March – 24 April 2016 at Foam.

Open daily 10 am - 6 pm, Thurs/Fri 10 am - 9 pm. Tickets: €10,00

Note to editors: For information and visual material please check www.foam.org/press or contact the Press Office of Foam, e-mail pressoffice@foam.org or call +31 (0)20 5516500.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd, City of Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.