Bart Herreman

What type of printing do you prefer?

I don’t have a particular predilection for any type of printing but I can say that I have a certain antipathy towards plexiglass.

I generally use prints on glossy paper, then laminate them matte and mount them on Dbond; this allows me to present my works even in very large formats without any problems.

What comes first, the idea or the fascination with the material? In other words, does the artistic/photographic project come first, or is it inspired by the techniques and particular processes that strike you?

The material on which the shot is printed does not change the nature of the photograph, everything depends on the destination and purpose, where the print will be placed.

I often work with a “Site-Specific” perspective.

Do you have any Masters you look up to and feel close to?

I am a self-taught artist but people often write about my work citing Magritte, Dalí, Ernst and even Miró.

I also remember the teaching of my photography teacher in Holland, who always told us: “Use only one light. In nature, there is only one sun.”

I made do with digital on my own; at first it was a disaster! Back when I started shooting, digital didn’t even exist. But with perseverance, I realized that to master a technique, no matter how far removed it may be, you don’t have to learn things by heart, but rather understand their logic. Only then can you master the medium, through practice and personalization.

In many of his surrealist-inspired shots we find a recurring animal, the zebra.

Alone or in groups, they populate the most disparate environments, from squares to churches and even inside ultra-modern apartments.

Curious about the choice of this animal, I discovered a curious fact. 

According to recent studies, in fact, the zebra’s black and white coat is so distinctive that it is invisible to the tsetse fly, which carries the parasite that causes sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), the main symptom of which is lethargic and profound drowsiness.

I find poetic irony in all this.

The zebra that populates shots taken from the surreal, the dreamlike, becomes a symbol and guardian of wakefulness.

Perhaps a clue from David Lynch who warns us through the amazement generated by his vision.

How do you choose which animal will be the protagonist of your next shot?

I photographed all the animals while visiting zoos around the world, and the environments and objects in my photographs are also the result of personal shots.

When composing the photos I try to insert the actors from my bestiary into the various locations and choose the one that blends in best.

The zebra is the animal that always generates the most curiosity in the viewer, many times I have been asked: “Why the zebra?”.

The zebra is already a surreal animal, isn’t it? Its stripes are like a fingerprint; no two animals have the same coat.

Besides being surreal, it is also a graphic, fashionable animal, it looks great in photographs, so much so that many fashion items are inspired by it.

All this work creates scenes born from the juxtaposition of real elements that lead to unreality.

The unreal reality, as the title of my exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale in Massa.

Future projects?

I have plans every day, and every morning! Change is vital, fertile, even for creativity.

Just think that I work for days on a single photograph because every day I change something within it.