If his 2012 collection Nimbus passed you by, you’re probably wondering how Berndnaut Smilde managed to produce the images in this new series, called Antipode. First guess might be computer trickery, but you’d be wrong. Nor are they examples of hyper-real painting. These indoor clouds, believe it or not, are real.
Sort of. They are clouds, but not like the ones that drop rain on your head, rather they are clouds of smoky fog produced by a machine. Smilde fiddles painstakingly with all sorts of variables like temperature and humidity until the conditions allow a cloud that hangs around long enough to be photographed, before it disperses as though it was never there. The Dutch artist carefully chooses his lighting and viewing angle to give the cloud a real sense of physical presence, but their ephemeral nature is an essential element in the effectiveness of his shots. Antipode – named from the term for two diametrically opposed parts of the Earth – is on display at London’s Ronchini Gallery from 11 April to 14 June.
Berndnaut Smilde,
Nimbus Waterschei, 2014,
Courtesy the artist
and Ronchini Gallery
Berndnaut Smilde,
Antipode, photomural, prism, light, 2014,
Courtesy the artist
and Ronchini Gallery
Berndnaut Smilde,
Nimbus Sankt Peter, 2014,
Kunst Station Sankt Peter, Cologne,
Courtesy the artist
and Ronchini Gallery
Berndnaut Smilde,
Nimbus Thor, 2014,
Courtesy the artist
and Ronchini Gallery
Berndnaut Smilde,
Nimbus Portland Place, 2014, London,
Courtesy the artist
and Ronchini Gallery
