Koen Demuynck’s Ads From Another Dimension
Striking, innovative photography is, apart from chocolate and comics, Belgium’s national treasure. Even the Royal Family themselves once commissioned Dirk Braeckman – an expert in depicting murky, disturbing interiors and their mostly undressed inhabitants – to take a series of portraits with a goth feeling. How appropriate for a country which gave us Les Disques Du Crépuscule and Front 242.
Another sensational creator of wondrous Belgian photograph is Koen Demuynck, who reveals very little about himself, letting the pictures express his uncanny imagination. His daring, surrealist approach to commercial photography quickly made Demuynck every art director’s dream associate and one of the busiest advertising photographers of today.
The heavily manipulated, weird landscapes and the most unbelievable juxtapositions make one curious to take a look inside his mind. Seeing gnomes constantly tripping on acid there wouldn’t be a surprise at all. Cats watering plants? Check. The secret of Stonehenge revealed? Check. A dog sorry for peeing on your house’s wall (how cute!)? Check.
January 31st, 2011 at 10:12 pm
I like how even without knowing what’s being advertised you can put together a little story and become engaged with the imagery. A rare thing given how disposable & forgettable most advertising imagery seems to be these days.
His work is pretty varied. I like the stuff under his personal section and the Christmas cards he’s done are hilarious. The look he has going is one I’ve seen many try to do (poorly) but there is so much texture and detail in his shots that it’s really fun to just get lost in even on a technical level. It doesn’t have that sterile or overly illustrative look others tend to fall into.
Great stuff. Especially the IKEA Toilets one. haha.