In the exhibition My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Foam presents work by Paul Bogaers (Tilburg, 1961) which he created in the last five years. During this period, his work has developed from two-dimensional photo combinations to the three-dimensional domain of assemblage, sculpture and installation, in which photography plays a vital role. Bogaers makes extensive use of paper mâché – a material not often embraced by fine artists.

Association and suggestion have always been important aspects of Bogaers’ visual language. With his combinations of photographs, in which he often uses ‘objets trouvés’ such as amateur photographs, book illustrations and other visual materials, he invites the viewer to discover surprising links. Bogaers has never been satisfied with the possibilities of photography to reproduce exact representations of the visible world around us. In contrast, he’s constantly searching for ways to capture the internal world in images. Bogaers combines various media in an attempt to push the absolute limits of photography as an artistic medium. He uses the term Extended photography to describe his work.

The title of the exhibition My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (taken from the acclaimed 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, who in turn borrowed it from a novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola written in 1954) refers to the ‘Bush of Ghosts’ that he, explains Bogaers, visits in his studio on a daily basis. His most recent work illuminates the artist’s fascination with African voodoo cultures, as well as the invisible and the supernatural.

ABOUT PAUL BOGAERS
Paul Bogaers studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in Tilburg. He has previously had solo exhibitions at Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam), Museum De Pont (Tilburg) and took part in group exhibitions at Foam, W139 (Amsterdam), De Beyerd (Breda) and FoMu (Antwerp). Paul Bogaers has published several books, including the photography book Upset Down (2010) and the literary book Onderlangs (2007). Paul Bogaers is represented by Galerie Pennings in Eindhoven.