Artist:
Daniel Holfeld
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Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1984, the Irish photographer, Daniel Holfeld, has developed a unique practice in a career spanning just over 10 years. Holfeld studied photography in Dublin and shortly after graduating in 2008 was invited to show at the New York Photo Festival 2008, where he was nominated for best emerging photographer. Exhibitions in Paris, Croatia, Ireland and London followed. During the past few years Holfeld has travelled around the world whilst working as a fashion photographer, and at the same time developing his fine art practice through his love of architectural form, honing an eye for his distinctive creative expression.
The Space Between is a series published in 2020, where Holfeld employs his visual language to interpret the architectural surfaces he encounters. The work has recently shown as a solo exhibition at RIAI (The Royal Institute of Architecture Ireland) and at RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), London, from May - September 2020. Two of the works from the series; 'Blue' and 'Pink Ascension' have been acquired for the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection at the RIBA British Architectural Library. 'Blue' was also listed by 'Elle Decor Italia', as one of the top 25 most beautiful architecture photographs of 2020.
Inspired by Mexican architect Luis Barragán and the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, the influence of the vivid clarity of modernist painting is evidenced, as he transforms his studies into striking vignettes of colour and geometric form. Through this series, Holfeld pushes his artistic practice into new territory, merging two different schools of creativity: documentary photography and abstract painterly composition. The images stand as authentic portraits of architecture but remain abstract in their intention. Harnessing the flexible veracity of the photographic medium, Holfeld's close-crop photographs show careful attention to the geometric fragments of his surroundings, which are revealed in subtle line and unexpected shadow cutting across pastel-walled surfaces.
Holfeld’s work has been included in exhibitions throughout Europe, including recent solo exhibitions: The Space Between, RIAI (Royal Institute of Architecture Ireland); The Space Between, RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), London, May-September (2020); solo exhibition Conveying Space - Marking the 50th Anniversary, Belfield 50, at UCD (University of Dublin) Ireland; Christmas Exhibition, NoonPowell Gallery Exhibition, Notting Hill, London (2020); NoonPowell Gallery - AAF, Battersea, London (2020); NoonPowell Gallery - AAF - Hampstead, London (2019); Gallery No. 3, London (2019); The Royal Art Prize, Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, London (2019); The Other Art Fair hosted by Saatchi Art, London (2018); Art & Style, Selfridges Brown Thomas, Dublin (2018).
Daniel Holfeld currently works from his studio in Dublin, Ireland.
Morocco
Made during two years traveling in Morocco 2016-2018, Holfeld's classic black and white images capture his passion for the grace and poetry of Moroccan architecture. With this series of photographs, he celebrates the complex Arab-Islamic, Berber and Moorish heritage of Marrakesh and Casablanca.
Drawn to both public and private buildings, the rich complexity of mosque architecture and the Andalusian-style courtyard design of the Moroccan riad, Holfeld draws comparisons between his process and that of the author or poet, composing his images with light and shade but also rhythm and rhyme. Writing with light, his eye seeks out quiet vignettes, the moment of stillness amid opulence and grandeur: for example the play of shadows on zellige tiles; the gentle repetition of naves and sandstone arcades; or the perspectival recession of Moorish-style scalloped keystone arches.