World #33, from the Elton John AIDS Foundation Photography Portfolio I

Maker van Empel, Ruud (Dutch, b. 1958)

Date2008

MediumSilver dye bleach print

Dimensionsimage/paper: 24 in x 20 in

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2009:284.10

About the ArtistRuud van Empel creates rich and idyllic digital montages stitched from many photographs. In his World series (2005), he combines his own imagery of people and nature to make portraits of children that are slightly fantastical—the backgrounds are otherworldly lush, and the figure’s physical features are slightly out of proportion. In a further act of disorientation, Van Empel poses his models in vintage clothing and postures that purposefully resemble paintings of children in the 17th century that commonly feature oversized heads and eyes to portray innocence. In this series, all the children depicted are Black, a choice the artist made to counter negative representation of Black youth in the media.

Ruud Van Empel graduated from the Acadamie St. Joost with a degree in graphic design (1976-1981). He has received the Sint Joost Award (1981), the Charlotte Kolher Award (1993), the H.N. Werkmann Award (2001), and the Breda ouevre Award (2013), and was named Artist of the Year by the American Friends of Museum, New York in 2017. He has had solo exhibitions at the Groninger Museum, Groningen (1999, 2011), Stux Gallery, New York (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014), and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta (2006, 2014, 2017), among others. His work is held extensively in the collections of museums such as the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, Groninger Museum, Groningen, Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel.