Wijnanda Deroo, Little West 12th Street, New York, 2020. Courtesy of Deborah Bell Photographs and the artist
Wijnanda Deroo’s images invite the viewer to partake in the intricate relationship between architecture and nature, between history and time, and between memory and place.
What makes these photographs so arresting is that there are almost never people to be seen in them. Yet the viewer is struck with the strong sense that someone has just left the room, or perhaps someone is about to enter.
These images can be regarded as portraits, not in the traditional sense, but rather, portraits of intimate surroundings, of the traces each and every one of us leaves in our lives: walking through a hotel lobby, the clutter of our personal objects on a table, or even the light we read by.
Deroo achieves a profound meditation on all of her themes by the masterful use of natural lighting, enigmatic compositions and rejection of staging and image manipulation.
Deborah Bell Photographs has been a dealer of fine-art photographs since 1988. The gallery offers a broad range of works spanning the history of photography, concentrating on the 20th century, with special emphasis on European photography between the world wars; American photography from the 1940s-1970s; selected fashion photography; and photo-documents of conceptual art and performance. Along with presenting innovative exhibitions and representing living photographers and estates, our goal is to work closely with individuals and institutions in building collections of depth and quality.
Deborah Bell Photographs has been a member of AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers) since 1992.