AMSTERDAM.- Kahmann Gallery presents the joined exhibition of two celebrated artist duos: Albarrán Cabrera (ES) and Schilte & Portielje (NL). The title of the exhibition, Infinite Spirit, is a reference to the universality of both the duo's works; while their work seems different on a formal level, both have created an oeuvre that speaks to a deep understanding of what connects us as human beings and plays with our collective memories and imaginations. Both Albarrán Cabrera and Schilte & Portielje have created new works for this exhibition.

Albarrán Cabrera
Albarrán Cabrera consists of photographers Anna Cabrera (1969, Sevilla) and Angel Albarrán (1969, Barcelona) who work and live together as a collaborative duo based in Barcelona. The overarching question in the work of Albarrán Cabrera is how images trigger individual memories in each viewer, depending on their social and cultural background.

For Albarrán Cabrera, photography is a means of explaining complex subjects and the relationship between these concepts without using linguistics, which can complicate matters further. As the saying goes, a picture really does say a thousand words.

“There is a gap between reality and what we understand as real. And photography lies in the frontier between the real and unreal, the true and the false. So it helps us to “see” what is hidden from us…Using photography we might not be able to answer the big questions about time, reality or space, but we are interested in exploring how a photographic image can make people think about their reality. Being aware is not just an important part of life; it is life as we know it. Using photography, we want the viewers to increase empathy and arouse interest towards their reality.”

The duo sees their photographs as objects: by handcrafting their prints using classic printing methods and materials such as platinum, silver halide, or inventing new ones like pigment prints on gold leaf, every copy becomes a unique work. All this effort serves a single purpose: to give the viewer more parameters to play with than just the image, giving it literal extra layers of meaning.

Schilte & Portielje
Huub Schilte (NL, 1953) and Jacqueline Portielje (NL, 1958) intensively explore the rich possibilities of the computer as an artistic medium and have been doing so since 1994. The computer is both their photography dark room as well as a drawing/painting tool. Their work has been featured in numerous exhibitions across the globe and has been included in numerous international private and corporate collections.

Schilte Portielje work without a preconceived plan or subject. They both select fragments of images from a digitalized library they have built up over the years. With their selected image fragments, they compose their own dreamworld in black and white, filled with creatures who are endlessly captivating

In their work Schilte Portielje constantly explore the boundaries between fantasy and reality, giving it a certain surreal quality. Could the composed black and white figures exist in real life? Are they in pleasure or pain? These questions make Schilte Portielje’s dreamworld one in which you would like to get lost forever.