Turkish-born, New York-based conceptual artist Zeren Badar has garnered attention for his innovative “Accident Series”, which melds photography, painting, and collage into captivating mixed-media artworks. Drawing inspiration from Dada and Neo-Dada movements, Badar assembles three-dimensional collages using found objects, food items, and inexpensive reproductions of classic paintings. By photographing these assemblages, he transforms pre-existing art into what he describes as “Duchampian ready-mades”, challenging traditional notions of art and authorship.
In creating these works, Badar employs techniques such as layering, crumpling, and folding to introduce depth and dimensionality. He often obscures portions of the original paintings with everyday objects, thereby reducing their details and altering their forms. This approach evokes memories of the original masterpieces while simultaneously disrupting them, prompting a reevaluation of the familiar. The use of strong shadows and unexpected juxtapositions further enhances the ambiguity and complexity of the compositions, encouraging deeper engagement with the artwork.
Badar’s “Accident Series” not only reinterprets classical art but also explores the boundaries between different artistic mediums. By integrating elements of photography, painting, and collage, he creates a unique visual language that reflects contemporary culture’s layered and multifaceted nature. This fusion of techniques and materials invites contemplation on the nature of art, perception, and the interplay between the old and the new.
“Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it” – Jasper Johns. I’m hugely influenced by dada and neo-dada. In this photography project, I explore a peculiar combination of photography, painting & collage. I create three-dimensional collages with found objects, food, and cheaply printed old paintings. I turn pre-existing works of art into Duchampian ready-mades and take photographs of them. I use strong shadows, layering, crumpling, and folding effects to give a three-dimensional sense in the final work. I reduce the details and forms of a painting by covering objects, food. Copies of old masters’ paintings initially evoke viewers’ memory. By using unexpected juxtapositions of objects, I try to create ambiguity and pull viewers’ attention deeper to my photographs. In many ways, I examine new types of still life.
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in Bahia. 