Untitled #131 (Llama)
Description
From the Series "Until the Kingdom Comes"
In his ongoing series “Until the Kingdom Comes,” to which this monumental portrait of a llama belongs, Simen Johan probes the boundaries between nature and artifice, reality and illusion, fantasy and nightmare. The exquisitely detailed image appears to capture the animal standing proudly in its own lush outdoor habitat. Johan has manipulated the photograph, however, using a variety of digital and sculptural devices to exaggerate the llama’s body and relocate it in an enhanced bucolic landscape. The result is a llama that bears an uncanny resemblance in its grooming to a coiffed poodle, its coat echoing the eerie whitish-grey mountain range in the distance. Adding a further sense of disorientation to the constructed scene are the other llamas visible in the background that appear to observe the central subject with some interest.
In his ongoing series “Until the Kingdom Comes,” to which this monumental portrait of a llama belongs, Simen Johan probes the boundaries between nature and artifice, reality and illusion, fantasy and nightmare. The exquisitely detailed image appears to capture the animal standing proudly in its own lush outdoor habitat. Johan has manipulated the photograph, however, using a variety of digital and sculptural devices to exaggerate the llama’s body and relocate it in an enhanced bucolic landscape. The result is a llama that bears an uncanny resemblance in its grooming to a coiffed poodle, its coat echoing the eerie whitish-grey mountain range in the distance. Adding a further sense of disorientation to the constructed scene are the other llamas visible in the background that appear to observe the central subject with some interest.
Creator
Simen Johan
Date
2005
Original Format
Digital C-Print. Edition of 5.
Physical Dimensions
Image: 60 x 60 inches; Framed: 63.25 x 63.25 inches
Files
Citation
Simen Johan, “Untitled #131 (Llama),” Contemporary Art Purchasing Program - Stamp Gallery, accessed November 24, 2024, https://contemporaryartumd.artinterp.org/omeka/items/show/48.