All pictures by Sebastiaan Helbers © 2015

 

  Artist’s Statement
Sebastiaan Helbers

After years of soul searching, I found an indispensable piece of my identity while working on a small assignment, where I chose to photograph in darkness.

Working nighttime, predominantly in nature, made me aware of the incredible sense of silence and mysticism. As a child, before I reached adolescence, I was often playing on building sites and in the open field, making up my own stories. Now, I find myself doing essentially the same. Influenced by the exceptional feeling of the essentials of our surroundings. The pure nature of objects, makes me feel intrinsically connected. While working, not being part of the so called daily reality and social context, I realise that my way of working, is an expression of my true self.

The uncovering of the subjects through focussing on the essence by isolating it from its ambient noise, enables me to communicate shapes in a different way. The pictures must have their own reality, they must not be an imitation of the visually perceptible world around us. Balancing between painting and photography, allows me to experience the deeper levels of this proces.

I explore the tension between the sensorial observation and the cognitive knowledge we already have about the subject. By working in a impressionistic manner, I attempt to capture shapes with light, while directly reacting on it. In the time lap, while using a long shutter speed, magic things are happening between technique and human expression.

I seek out dark places, for apparently ordinary subjects or scenes with less ambient light. The combination of painting with light and camera settings, creates images in which extreme calmness and high energy are manifested in unity. Trough the darkness of the image all the attention leads to the subject. The black is generated by a photographic technique, not by post editing.

My work embodies much of my existential questions.