Viktor Koen “Bestiary: Bizarre Myths & Chimerical Fancies”

United Photo Industries

[Image: © Viktor Koen – "Tiresias"]

This event has ended.

Bestiary is the product of a long fascination with Greek legents and early 19th Century photography. Based on hybrid creature descriptions and influenced by religious iconography, myth comes full circle to meet social criticism by molding monstrous archetypes into contemporary commentary. Most importantly, in this series, beasts are separated from their usually singular dimension and assume complex, tragic personalities where monsters and heroes become difficult to tell apart.

Drawing from the vast pictorial collection of the US Library of Congress, these characters posses the hunting qualities of early photography, when subjects were not camera-savvy and their awe for technology was etched in their expression as, to a certain degree, their souls were captured by the lens. Their photos became psychological portraits way before my digital intervention made them supernatural. This deformed pantheon combines widely known mythical protagonists with more obscure characters from the depths of ancient Greek sources.

Bestiaries are traditionally catalogs where the natural history notes and illustration of beasts is usually accompanied by a moral lesson and this one is no different. Today, nature and science intertwine in ways that at times prove to be less than ideal and this compilation of brutes is a testament to this exact point.

Viktor Koen is an award winning artist, educator and speaker. He holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem and an MFA with honors from the School of Visual Arts. Mr. Koen is a regular contributor to national and international publications and serves on the graduate faculty of SVA. His prints are widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia and are part of private and institutional collections.

One man shows include: Benaki Museum/Athens, United Photo Industries/NY, Type Directors Club/NYC, The Coningsby Gallery/London, Strychnin Gallery/Berlin, Fraser Gallery/Washington/DC, Astrolavos Gallery/Athens/Greece, Slovak National Museum/Bratislava, LeVall Gallery/Novosibirsk/Russia, Merry Karnowsky Gallery/Los Angeles, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art/Thessaloniki/Greece. Distinctions include Communication Arts Award of Excellence, Graphis Gold Awards, First Prize Digital Hall of Fame, Hasselblad/Kounio Award, Folio Gold Awards, First Prize EVGE Awards, First Prize Viridian Gallery National Juried Exhibition; SPD Awards for Excellence.

Mr. Koen’s work is regularly featured in books and publications worldwide.