Friday, March 26, 2010

The Magnificent Imagination of Kevin Best

Yesterday, I was cruising through Flickr looking for photos of zebras (which I adore and which are, I think, totally underappreciated animals)....and guess what I found??? - the photo above claiming to contain the image of a zebra...I looked and looked and there it was and I was hooked, on the incredible

Kevin was born in New Zealand and has been widely recognized and rightly acclaimed for this incredible intepretations of the Dutch Golden Age, using the modern medium of photography. American Photo named him one of Flickr's 12 Superstars and he has exhibited throughout the world.  He also does private commissions.
Over the years, he has learned the significance and intrinsic, often very subtle inteaction of all of the objects featured by the Dutch Masters but he has gone a step further - he has amassed an incredible collection of many of the original objects; glass, ceramics, cutlery, jewelry..what he cannot acquire, he makes himself!

 
 

Some of these photos take weeks to complete!

Kevin is very keen on quiddities, as were the Dutch Masters who inspire him.... 

The photo above is one of my favourite of Kevin's. There are soo many, I cannot show them all..I am just so taken with this work...maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have always looooved the still life of the Dutch Golden Age. I have been to Amsterdam several times and have never missed the opportunity to "visit" my favourites, including at the Rijksmuseum.
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All photos courtesy of Kevin Best at kevsyd

13 comments:

  1. Honestly, I'm completely twitterpated. What a genius! I have never seen the likes of this. Each one captivated me more and more. I could sit here all day and gaze upon these. Wonderful discovery, AJ!

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  2. I did see the zebra. You could easily spend an hour looking at each image in these pictures. I really liked the one with the lobster and coral. Fantastic indeed, his work, and yours. Your blog is pretty special. Now I'm going to check out this givaway!

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  3. What a great artist!

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  4. oh these are just incredible!! i am so glad you looked up zebras, gave this a chance, and then shared... i love that for today and more, i will be thinking about these paintings, wanting to do research... i adore thinking outside of the box and turning things on their head... wonderful, thank you so much aj!!

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  5. Thank you AJ for introducing Kevin's work to us. It's art that you need to take time & study; so much to take in and contemplate the possible situation. His work would be truly something special to own. Love it.

    Happy weekend to you. Hope it's filled with bright skies! xx

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  6. The photographs are amazing! Such a vision, thank you for intorducing me to the new name. :-)
    Thank you for your wonderful inut on my Dior dilemma. I could never imagine that it would be so intimidating to wear a coat!I will, of course, post once I will figure out how exactly I am going to wear it. I am wishing you spectacular weekend. :-)

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  7. P.S. Zebras totally rock in my opinion!:-)))

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  8. These are brilliant! I had to look for the zebra for a while, but you're right - finding it makes you want to look closely at all his images.

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  9. I am SO glad that Kevin's work is striking a cord with so many people!! Yaaay! ox

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  10. Dear AJ,
    What fantastic photographs. I saw the zebra immediately.
    How patient he must be to set these up, but I'm so glad that he does. They are amazing. XXXX

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  11. I'm blown away that he makes the things he can't find as well !

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  12. Amazzzzing AJ!
    Loving the fishing lobster very much~
    Great weekend darrrlin'
    xo*

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