Gerco de Ruijter / On the Grid at Ulrich Museum

Sat, Jul 18 - Sun, Sep 13  2015

Dutch artist Gerco de Ruijter is the Ulrich Underground artist-in-residence for 2015. De Ruijter is a celebrated photographer based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Much of his career has been spent documenting the open landscapes of the Netherlands and Iceland, though he has also made repeated trips to the American Southwest. The view of his subject is most often from above, with images unconventionally captured while skillfully piloting a kite or fishing rod.

With the help of Google Earth, De Ruijter has also turned his creative attention to agriculture – especially the crop irrigation circles so familiar to anyone passing through the arid high plains. Working in video as well as still image photography – and Photoshop manipulation of Google Earth images – De Ruijter captures the subtle variations of landscape altered by human intervention over time. 

While in Wichita, De Ruijter will continue his aerial observations of the land. He will capture a 360 degree panorama image from a center pivot irrigation arm, and also launch a new project that examines the “grid corrections” along Kansas county boundaries. Our human imprint on the rural Kansas landscape provides a rich subject for innovative and engaging exploration by this important international photographer.

Work resulting from Gerco de Ruijter’s residency will be acquired by the Ulrich as a permanent record of this project.

About Gerco de Ruijter

Gerco de Ruijter (1961, Vianen) is a landscape photographer. In his photography and films he explores the boundaries of the recognizable and the reducible presentation of the landscape.

De Ruijter studied at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. Graduated Cum Laude in 1993. Since 1993 he had numerous solo and group exhibitions in and outside the Netherlands. His work is represented in divers important public and private collections.