![Bruno V. Roels - Icarus (Palmograph), 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2019103-Icarus-Palmograph-2019-30cm-300ppi.jpeg)
Bruno V. Roels
Looking for Paradise
10/12/2019
01/02/2020
Gallery FIFTY ONE
Opening reception: Saturday, Dec. 7th 2019 from 2 – 6 pm
Bruno V. Roels (Belgium, 1976) uses his third solo show with Gallery FIFTY ONE to wander deeper into the possibilities of analogue photography and dark room print making.
’Looking For Paradise’ offers an insight in the various things that inspire and/or obsess Roels. These interests range from the influence of television during his childhood, to American conceptual art, going back to the roots of photography with modernist geniuses like Man Ray.
![Bruno V. Roels - To Keep Back The Wandering Hair, 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2019117-To-Keep-Back-The-Wandering-Hair-2019.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Everybody Loves The Sunshine, 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Everybody-Loves-The-Sunshine.jpg)
Bruno V. Roels
Bruno Roels divides his time between writing and photographing. He considers the act of printing (turning a photograph into a tangible object) as important as the act of photographing itself. He photographs almost nonstop, documenting his entire life, building a sizable archive. In his dark room he uses that archive to explore the analogue photographic process. Rather than trying to make ‘the perfect gelatin silver print’ he assumes that all prints are perfect and gives all variations equal attention.
He’s looking for poetry, and photographic truth, in sequences and fluctuations. Details in his photographs may become lead motives in bigger compositions, and obvious subject matter is reduced to abstract information through numerous reiterations.
biography
Born in 1976 in Belgium
Lives and works in Ghent, Belgium
Visit artist website here
View an overview of the 28 Vignon Street edition ‘Flowers for Henriette’ here
![Bruno V. Roels - These Flowers I Make #1, 2024, Inkjetprint on Hahnemühle photo rag ultra smooth paper, 70 x 50 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2023067-These-Flowers-I-Make-1-2023-100CM-50cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - A Palm Tree Is A Palm Tree Is A Palm Tree (Palmographs #1)](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/A-Palm-Tree-Is-A-Palm-Tree-Is-A-Palm-Tree-Palmographs-1-2.jpg)
Getting away from the tyranny of viewfinders
The American conceptual artist Baldessari warned against the “tyranny of camera viewfinders and rectangular boxes of enlarging papers”. He had a valid point; a lot of photography is defined by the camera used, the film (or technology) in that camera, and the paper the photographs are printed on. Bruno V. Roels was frustrated by this and started researching ways to get more out of the process. Not just to be ‘different’ but to get away from ‘the tyranny’ of normal photography.
Roels found that the very act of developing and printing analogue photography offers endless ways to be free, artistically.
All prints have value
Instead of fussing over making the perfect gelatin silver print, for example, Roels realized that all printed versions of an image have value, and he decided to not show that one perfect print, but all of them, in one composition. Some of his compositions consist of hundreds variations of one single negative, all printed in the dark room.
Photography is a mimetic art, it imitates life. But Roels pushes it further: when printing variants of one image; he creates a mimetic feedback loop. The prints are not just interpretations of a reality, but of themselves as well.
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Screenshot-2024-03-15-at-14.30.36.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Stacking-Potassium.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Woke Up Laughing (Dreaming Dioramas), 2023, Inkjetprint on HM photo rag ultra smooth 305g/m2, 140 x 100 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Woke-Up-Laughing-Dreaming-Dioramas.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Desertwave, 2023, Composition of 9 gelatin silver prints, 128 x 97 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Dreaming-Dioramas-Sergio-Leone.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Dreaming-Dioramas-2.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/But-that-Was-In-Another-Country.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Dreaming Dioramas (Deconstructed), 2023, Composition of 12 gelatin silver prints, 40 x 62 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Dreaming-Dioramas-Deconstructed-e1704542217520.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Archetypes.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Rescue From Without, 2023, Acrylic paint on a gelatin silver print, 50 x 40 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Rescue-From-Without.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Giving Back Color #1, 2023, Wax oil pastel on a gelatin silver print, 40 x 50 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Giving-Back-Color-1.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Supernatural-Aid.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Magic Lantern (Palmographs), 2023, Composition of 40 gelatin silver prints, 75 x 64 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2023061-Magic-Lantern-Palmographs-2023-LOWRES.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Figura Serpentinata (Demeter), 2023, Acrylic paint on a digital print, 75 x 50 cm](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2023060-Figura-Serpentinata-Demeter-2023-LOWRES.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Lying About Our Past #1, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022044-Lying-About-Our-Past-1-2022-300ppi-40cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Lying About Our Past #4, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022047-Lying-About-Our-Past-4-2022-300ppi-50cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Colors I Stole, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022116-The-Colors-I-Stole-2022-100CM-300ppi-40cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Colors I Stole #2, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022117-The-Colors-I-Stole-2-2022-100cm-300ppi-40cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Bay (Time), 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022135-The-Bay-Time-2022-100CM-300ppi-40cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Do Not Swear By The Moon #4, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022137-Do-Not-Swear-By-The-Moon-4-2022-100CM-300ppi-40cm.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022037-Colors-Of-Como-2022.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Sin Eaters, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022085-The-Sin-Eaters-2022-50CM.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022043-Untitled-Sampling-Inaccurately-But-Getting-The-Gist-Of-It-2022-150ppi.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022158-Valueless-As-A-Dye-1-2022-50CM.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #23, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022157-Looking-For-Paradise-23-2022-100CM.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022153-Looking-For-Paradise-19-2022-100CM.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #13 (No Worries), 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022147-Looking-For-Paradise-13-No-Worries-2022-50CM.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #20, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022154-Looking-For-Paradise-20-2022-100CM.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #9, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Looking-For-Paradise-9-2022.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #7, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Looking-For-Paradise-7-2022.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #6, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Looking-For-Paradise-6-2022.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking For Paradise #8, 2022](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Looking-For-Paradise-8-2022.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Gold Giant #5, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Gold-Giant-5-2021.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Gold Giant #8, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bruno-V.-Roels-Gold-Giant-8-2021.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - Not All Alone Unhappy, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2021029-Not-All-Alone-Unhappy-2021-low-res.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Nights Weigh Heavy, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2021025-Nights-Weigh-Heavy-2021-show.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Sometimes My Arms Bend Back, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021099-Sometimes-My-Arms-Bend-Back-2021-smaller-show.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Banana Cup Champion, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Schermafbeelding-2022-04-20-om-17.36.56.png)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022081-Fake-Billboards-Tanit-2022-300PPI.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Fake Billboards (Anomie) #3, 2020](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020112-Fake-Billboards-Anomie-3-2020-high-res.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Untitled (Square Of Flowers), 2020](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020067-Untitled-Square-Of-Flowers-2020-high-res.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Screenshot-2024-03-15-at-14.43.53.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - A Palm Tree Is A Palm Tree Is A Palm Tree, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021_04_070012.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - 16 Trees, 2021](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021_04_070013.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Among The Winds At Play (1), 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2019057-Among-The-Winds-At-Play-1-2019.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Explosions Over Calm Seas, 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2019077-Explosions-Over-Calm-Seas-2019-1.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2022027-Returning-The-Favor-2022-50cm.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - A Guide To Cherry Blossoms (Red & Orange), 2019](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Schermafbeelding-2022-04-20-om-17.31.59.png)
![Bruno V. Roels - La Goulue, 2020](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020117-La-Goulue-2020-low-res.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - Looking Back In Anger, 2018](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2018077-Looking-Back-In-Anger-2018-Edit.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Pyramids And Palm Trees Test, 2018](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2018133_The-Pyramids-And-Palm-Trees-Test-2018_PYRAMIDS.jpg)
![Bruno V. Roels - The Pyramids And Palm Trees Test, 2018](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2018133_The-Pyramids-And-Palm-Trees-Test-2018_PALMS.jpg)