Primitivism and Paradise: The Myth of Innocence as Depicted in the Works of Ruud van Empel and His Artistic Influences

Abstract

Ruud van Empel is a contemporary photographic artist. The images he manipulates are lifelike to nature and depict a fictional paradisiacal world populated with adolescents and children who personify innocence. Despite the beauty of his extraordinary photographs there is something disturbing that lies within them. This paper attempts to demonstrate that Ruud van Empel is commenting on primitivism as shown in great works such as the work of Paul Gauguin and Henri Rousseau, ultimately stating that the innocence of Eden is a beautiful but damaging myth. After taking bites out of the metaphoric apple, we have obtained knowledge, but with it, we can never look at such art in the same way. Innocence in not all it appears to be.