Teun Hocks: Untitled, 2006

“I tried to make an image about desire and about the strange feeling that something is missing, although everything seems so peaceful and romantic.”—Teun Hocks

Performer, photographer, and painter Teun Hocks plays the role of “an innocent Everyman in an always strange and often funny world.” In scenes that range from burlesque to tragicomic, his lonely, Buster Keaton—like persona perseveres through odd and unforgiving environments, struggling to find stable ground in an unstable, often absurd universe.

Hocks begins by sketching various one-person stories, then poses himself in a carefully plotted setup against his own painted backdrop. After photographing the scene, he paints in oil on top of the resulting oversize gelatin-silver print. His wit, elaborate technique, and rich colors combine to form an irrepressibly original oeuvre. Hocks painted the background and made the rock out of wood and paper to create this image. When setting up the shot, he took care in his use of natural lighting; he then asked his brother to direct his dog to sit as depicted in his preliminary drawings. To produce this image for Aperture in a larger edition, Hocks scanned the black-and-white 6-by-9-inch negative and digitally colored it.

Each limited-edition print is hand-packed with great care and ships from New York within 3–5 days.