Fiction meets art history, as french photographer Sacha Goldberger celebrates childhood 'heroes' by re-imaginging them as subjects for sixteenth century portrait artists, like the Flemish Jan van Eyck.
"Soldier with helmet and shield in American colours." (left), and “A green man really brawny.”
"Pale young woman surrounded by animals." (left), and “A man wearing a helmet with light going out from his eyes.”
Goldberg's photo series, entitled "Flemish Heroes", demonstrate the use of 17th century techniques, such as counterpointing light and shadow, to illustrate nobility and the fragility of the super powerful.
“Portrait of a princess with a helmet of hair on her ears.” (left) and "Portrait of an officer in a black helmet."
"Portrait of a man wearing a gold armour." (left) and “A metal cylindrical object.”
The superheroes often live their lives cloaked in anonymity ... these portraits give them a chance to 'fix' their narcissism denied.
"Portrait of a very hairy man" (left) and “A small-sized elder with a stick of green light.”
“A man wearing a S on his chest” (left) and "A masked man with a spider embroidered on his chest."
"Young woman drinking tea with rabbit" (left) and “Woman in red and blue with diadem and lasso.”
By the temporal disturbance they produce, these images allow us to discover, under the patina of time, an unexpected melancholy of those who are to be invincible. As science fiction meets history of art, time meets an inexhaustible desire for mythology which is within each of us.
"Portrait of the masked man with pointed ears."
"Portrait of a feline woman in black and her even more savage animal" (left), and “Jester with a dark smile.”