Sarah Van Rij & David Van Der Leeuw are Dutch artists
Episode 393: Sarah van Rij and David van der Leeuw join me to speak about the exceptional book Metropolitan Melancholia published by Kominek Books late last year.
When I first saw the book, I was immediately taken with the high quality of image0making. I was reminded of work like Saul Leiter’s, but realized that it was also part of a small trend in photography right now that people like Sarah and David are exploring. Something about the work seems out of time and slightly anachronistic, but is saved from pastiche by the exceptional image quality and the feel that the images are not created to look older specifically, but rather that they share a link with the evolution of the media and are unafraid to explore methodologies that existed previously, but to add their own stamp to the work. I can mention Jack Davison, Salvi Danes, and Christopher Anderson and perhaps a few others who are exploring this style or motif obliquely.
With Metropolitan Melancholia, the results are really incredible. Kominek Books is known for picking up previously unpublished artists who have a career track record, but have yet been realized in book form. Mark Mahaney, Senta Simond, Lena Emery, and Kominek himself are just some of the excellent artists who the publisher has brought into book form. Metropolitan Melancholia is a unique experience that explores the City of New York as a muse and adds emotive color and black and white layers to the seasoned subject matter. There is a hint of melancholia and perhaps where the thinking regarding the past informs the aesthetic choices of the artists.
In the episode, we spoke about the collaboration between Sarah and David as well as their respective backgrounds and influences. From cinema to the city itself, we covered fascinating ground. Please tune in to this episode. Metropolitan Melancholia was one of my favorite books of last year, and even more so after having this honest and open conversation about the work.
