Joost Vandebrug is a multidisciplinary artist who studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He uses a variety of printing techniques, including pigment transfers and silver-gelatin prints, on hand-made Washi, copper plates, and traditional Barite paper. He embraces the susceptibility and fragility of historic photographic techniques, often paralleling his subject matters, and goes against the photographic tradition of producing and preserving unblemished prints. His art reflects a desire to challenge traditional methods, reminiscent of the Assemblage and Xerox art movements. Before dedicating his career solely to his art, Vandebrug worked as a commercial photographer and filmmaker. He was represented by Art+Commerce in New York and shot world-wide campaigns for clients such Nike and Superdry and editorials for magazines such as i-D and L'uomo vogue. Vandebrug's Documentary film, for which he filmed a community living under the streets of Bucharest for 6 years won over a dozen international awards, received 5 stars in The Guardian and was screened in over 50 film festivals around the world.
ABOUT THE SERIES PILLOW BOOK
"Revisiting the past they discovered a different truth; unmasking the memory's elaborate facade. The heartache they felt was real, yet the facts had been rearranged by time, weaving a new realm from the strand of their longing and imagination."
Pillow Book is an exploration into the connections between past and present experiences. Much like the Japanese concept of a pillow book, where personal reflections are curated into a single artistic space, Vandebrug's work captures the essence of moments reshaped by time and the impact of our memories on new realities they form.
Each composition consists of over 200 mono-types on handmade paper cards which serves as a testament to Vandebrug's dedication to pushing the boundaries of traditional photography and concurrently mirrors the transient nature of memory. The compositions reveal the intricate dance between the authentic and the distorted and are an amalgamation of intimate leaf close-ups and expansive landscapes. They stand as an eloquent metaphor for the multifaceted nature of recollection and memory - how it can be both faithful and altered.