Noted architecture photographer Iwan Baan’s aerial shot of the former North Christian Church in Columbus is included in the current exhibit at Gallery 506 in Columbus.
One need not wonder about the artistic imagery expected in the hardbound, coffee table book “American Modern: Architecture, Community, Columbus, Indiana” expected to be available this summer.
The photo exhibit of Dutch photographer Iwan Baan, which serves as a picturesque preview of the work, will remain at Gallery 506 in the Columbus Area Visitors Center in downtown Columbus through August.
Baan’s photos will be paired with Columbus native Matt Shaw’s words.
The photos are not for sale, but there are three different silk screen images of the book cover for sale at $250.
And the fundraising campaign for the book continues until the end of the month. Donors who contribute $1,000 to this project will receive a print of their choosing, a copy of the book – when published – and donor names will be added to the book.
Donations can be made at landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org/american-modern
Baan is known primarily for images that narrate the life and interactions that occur within architecture. Born in 1975, he grew up outside Amsterdam, studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and worked in publishing and documentary photography in New York and Europe.
Baan’s love for photography goes back to his twelfth birthday, when his grandmother gave him his first camera. After his studies in photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, Baan followed his interest in documentary photography before narrowing his focus to record the various ways in which individuals, communities and societies create and interact within their built environment.
With his combined passion for documentary and space, Baan’s photos “reveal our innate ability to re-appropriate our available objects and materials, in order to find a place we can call our own,” according to publicity material for the photographer. Examples of this can be seen in his work on informal communities where vernacular architecture and placemaking serve as examples of human ingenuity, such as his images of the Torre David in Caracas, Venezuela — a series that won Baan the Golden Lion for Best Installation at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.
With no formal training in architecture, his perspective mirrors the questions and perspectives of the everyday individuals who give meaning and context to the architecture and spaces that surround us, and this artistic approach has given matters of architecture an approachable and accessible voice.
As the inaugural recipient of the Julius Shulman award for photography, today architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Toyo Ito, SANAA and Morphosis turn to Baan to give their work a sense of place and narrative within their environments. Alongside his architecture commissions, Baan has collaborated on several successful book projects such as “Insular Insight: Where Art and Architecture Conspire with Nature.”
Baan’s work also appears on the pages of architecture, design and lifestyle publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Architectural Record, Domus, Abitare and Architectural Digest.
Baan was named one of the 100 most influential people in the contemporary architecture world by the magazine Il Magazine dell’Architettura on occasion of its 100th issue.
