Overcrowded (2020) Photography by Idan Wizen

ABOUT "Overcrowded"
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"Overcrowded" is part of Into The Box collection made in 2020.


ABOUT THE SERIES "INTO THE BOX"
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The ongoing situation may not be the most propitious for the artistic sphere, but that is not everybody’s case. Numerous artists take advantage of the lockdown to have a deeper look into themselves and find the inspiration for creating in order to respond to the current events. What was at first just an idea to pass the time in the studio, while there were no clients, and while nobody’s watching, is now transformed into the new collection Into the Box.

The fine art artist Idan Wizen had this idea during the second French lockdown when the studio was closed to the public, so he had no choice but to shoot himself and his coworkers. Assembled in the studio by the team, the box is the representation of the enclosure that one may live in during the confinement. Compressed, almost squeezed in the cube, the protagonists represent different emotions we may endure: from anger to stillness, from crying to apathy.

There is yet another question that pumps up constantly: are we sure that is only the Covid situation that puts us into the box, or do we do so ourselves? Indeed, quite often we can find ourselves in our comfort bubbles. The problems that sneak inside rest within, until we don’t find any place for other emotions of everyday life. And there we are, suffocated in the box, with nowhere else to go.


A WORD FROM THE ARTIST
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I’m creating strong and striking images for one purpose: I want my images to provoke thought and discussion. I want the viewer to question himself, question his certainties, learn to see things differently. Pondering two levels: the individual and societal. At the individual level, I want my work to take the viewer on a journey to think about the constraints their minds self-impose, of acceptance of their body, or to help find the beauty in all shapes, sizes, and flaws. At the societal level, my reflections turn to the choices we will have to make tomorrow: our morals, our environment, our responsibility towards future generations, our relationship to science, to the transformation of homo sapiens into a new species…

These images come from a wide inspiration, mainly from writings, such as those of Bernard Werber or Yuval Noah Harari, but also great photographers like David Lachapelle or Jill Greenberg. Not to mention, of course, my pop culture, ranging from Marvel to Tolkien through the Rock and Metal music of the 70s and 80s.

Combining strong ideas with the relevant aesthetic of an image seems to me easier than writing a political or philosophical piece. Art allows us to send a more subtle message, a message that will be interpreted differently depending on the viewer. By using in my art, the subtlety and multi-interpretation of the message, I want to make the viewers’ ideas into perspective their vision of things and thus, to understand mine. I want to caress the unconscious and thus becoming the seed that will germinate over time allowing an evolution of ideas.

Most artists have very radical opinions on their topic. I tend to believe that most of our daily challenges and problems are complicated involving a complex and subtle solution. I’d like to think about the faces of the coin. Isn’t it funny for a 2D artist? For now, it’s in photography that I found the most comfortable way to express myself. But I’m starting to think about sculpture and video in order to express more easily the permanent, rage and hope, cohabitating inside me.

My rage is coming from the contemplation of a world seeming to turn in the wrong direction! I always feel repulsed and angered at many things. I feel anger towards the state of the world. I feel beaten down at people’s stupidity, violence and hypocrisy. I feel thunderstruck at the fear of progress and science. And I also truly believe that our world is better now than it has ever been. I’m amazed by some beautiful minds, by the creativity and intelligence of the human kind. So it’s in the human kind that I put my hope and my expectations for tomorrow!


TECHNICAL INFORMATION
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Series: Into The Box
Edition of 3 - Print unique on each size
Type of print: Silver-based C-Print
The print offered here: 60 x 60 cm mounted on Dibond.
The print is coming with a Hahnemühle certificate of authenticity.

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