Artist #45: Viktor Koen

Toy No.04
Lamda print on Duraflex
25" x25" 2006 edition of 5

O.O okay. Its about 1:30 in the morning and I'm tired as hell and I'm probably starting to get a little wacky in the brain area, but I really want to finish these while I'm on a roll. So here goes number 45.

Vanity Study No.16
digital C-Print on paper
18" x 24"2005
edition of 5

Viktor Koen was born in Greece in 1967. He received his Graphic Design BFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem in 1990 and then got his MFA with honors in Illustration in 1992 from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Koen has taught at Parsons School of Design since 1995 and since 1999 was a Masters Thesis Advisor at New York's School of Visual Arts. He has shown his work in both solo and group shows around the world. His website, here is full of his awesome artwork, which definitely deserves a look.

Vanity Study No.45
digital C-Print on paper
18" x 24" 2005
edition of 5

I particularly enjoyed that his site included artist statements and tons of images for each body of work that he is showing! I'll go over two of my favorite bodies of work that Viktor Koen has created. The first is from his Vanity studies ( statement here ) which is digital images of objects. These "objects" are a combined form of composition of forms and conceptual identifying of the objects within the image. The studies refer to 17th century "Vanitas" paintings which depicted objects that symbolized the brevity of life.
The other collection of work I love is from “Dark Peculiar Toys” (statement) (which reminds me of Peter Tansill's work but in digital form) because of its use of doll parts to create strangely manipulated "toys"...whose purpose is perhaps best left unknown... I'll post pics from both bodies of work (all of which are from Koen's website.)

Toy No.16
Lamda print on Duraflex
25" x25" 2006
edition of 5