Matthew Marks is pleased to announce, Hellen van Meene, New Photographs: Japan, the next exhibition in his gallery at 523 West 24th Street.

The exhibition will consist of 31 photographs of young Japanese women executed by the 28-year-old Dutch artist during a two-month visit to Japan last year. This will be van Meene’s first one-person exhibition in New York and the first time the Japanese photographs will be shown in the United States.

For over five years, Hellen van Meene has concentrated solely on intimate photographic portraits of adolescent girls. Her models are most often girls she approaches on the street—some she develops relationships with and works with for years while others pose for her camera only once. The girls are often captured in seemingly pained or sorrowful poses, engaged in spontaneous, private actions that according to van Meene, society often wrongly considers “shocking or something to condemn.” With this work, van Meene hopes people will understand that her images grow out of a highly intimate collaboration between the photographer and her model. Each portrait is always untitled; each model is anonymous and photographed in a natural light.

Van Meene was educated at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and began exhibiting her work in 1994. Since 1999 she has had one-person exhibitions in Amsterdam, London, Milan, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. In 2002, the Matthew Marks Gallery will publish a catalogue of van Meene’s work.

A reception for the artist will be held on Friday, September 21st from 6–8 PM at 523 West 24th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). The exhibition will remain on view until October 27th. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Artist Page

Works in Exhibition Installation Views

Announcement