Scratches

Realism and abstraction in the photographs of Bas Princen

Abstract

Last year I was in Rome with photographer Bas Princen a few days before the opening of the Architecture Biennale, where he exhibited a series of large photographs printed on plaster in the Kazakhstan pavilion set up for the occasion by the Christ & Gantenbein studio. The photos, depicting details of Mahalla, the traditional Kazakh houses, had been produced in Spain with a unique print on plaster supports, by nature fragile, mounted on aluminium frames to prevent deformation and breakage.