James Ostrer (B. 1979) Ribbons 4 (Maria Kochetkova); Chromogenic Print; 1/5 2012

The chromogenic print by James Ostrer (b. 1979) titled Ribbons 4  and featuring ballet dancer Maria Kochetkova being signed, dated 2012 and numbered 1/5 in on the reverse of the frame and formerly the property of Stephanie Hoppen.

The print is in super condition as it is fully protected in the good quality frame.

Ostrer has been photographing the Moscow-born San Francisco Ballet dancer for 10 years after being inspired by her obsession with perfection and quirky passion for fashion. Ostrer said: “There is a containment of physical pain and control in ballet which is tightly interwoven with its grace and beauty. I wanted to suggest this through the images…” Ostrer says what interests him about Kochetkova are the various sides to her character which are hidden by an innate ability to contain and tolerate. Ostrer wanted to expose these elements, shooting Kochetkova in a series of poses which suggest vulnerability, playfulness, rebellion; characteristics repressed daily by the requirements of her trade.

James Ostrer’s work often tests the limits of body politics in the ever evolving analysis of the western body, sexuality, and society at large. Much like Paul McCarthy’s or George Condo’s seminal works, Ostrer's work forms a bizarre pattern of post capitalist tribalism with cartoon-like absurdity. They are rife with a sense of ritual endeavor and colour-saturated sensitivity; while palpitating with a nostalgia for various ephemera including junk food and animal parts they present themselves with an emphasis on the potential havoc the over consumption of these things wreak within our collective life experience. His works are often a catalogue of self- destructive behaviors, and are also managed in such a way that while transgressing themselves as odes to great works of historical art practice, they become re-packaged eye candy for uncomfortable consumption.