In “Text Portrait MISSING,” both image and language play equally important roles. Lejman combined photos of a large number of random inhabitants of Eindhoven to create two portraits. Each portrait is shown six times, with the word “missing” placed over the virtual figure, varying in size. The larger the letters, the less recognizable the image.
Normally, a portrait aims to represent a person as accurately and vividly as possible. But is that the case with these images? Do these representations reveal something about character or personality? Ueltzhoeffer makes us reflect on how quickly we judge in a time when Google and Wikipedia are omnipresent. This work fits particularly well in the window of the Bijenkorf, where appearances or first impressions determine judgments by definition.
About the artist
The relationship between visual and textual information is central to Ralph Ueltzhoeffer’s work. In previous works, he built portraits from texts found on the internet about that person. He is intrigued by the way these texts, sometimes unreliable, shape our image of a person.
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