Torbjrn Rdland90

Torbjrn Rdland’s photography is direct but idiosyncratic, pushing at the boundaries of aesthetic and social norms. His fifth book,Vanilla Partner, continues in this vein, combining images of fetishized isolation in a layout that rejects the linear structure of thematic photography books.Rdlands practice navigates through the problematic and seemingly unchanging heart of popular photography. Accepting neither the humanist realism of most photographic portraiture nor the postmodern role-play,Vanilla Partnerexplores the cultural complexities and archaic foundation of contemporary image-making. Reconstructed scenes of ultrasoft BDSM read like twisted metaphors for photographys ability to freeze or capture. The book title, dripping in innuendo, also poses a question about the ambiguity of the relationship between the artist and his medium. Is Rdland acknowledging the mediums straight foundation or does he see himself dominated by it? Many of the images also have explicit political references, often linked to the 1980 US Presidential election.Vanilla Partnerbrings together works made in Oslo, Tokyo, Beijing and Rdlands current home, Los Angeles.