Blanca Paul
Paul Blanca, pseudonym for Paul Vlaswinkel, was a Dutch photographer who was born in 1958 in Amsterdam and who died there in 2021. He became known in the 1980s for his controversial and violent photos. He was self-taught and led a rough life filled with alcohol and drugs. He was influenced by Hans Van Manen, Benno Premsela and Robert Mapplethorpe. Blanca, the photographer does not shy away from confrontation. He became famous for a photo in which a crying Mickey Mouse was bloody carved into his back with thumbs up. The image became iconic in Dutch portrait photography. He mutilates himself with razor blades, iron wire, nails and arrows, portrays heroin prostitutes in their moment of surrender and deforms bodies with wires. In New York he was coached by Robert Mapplethorpe, who called the young photographer his only real competitor. Despite the subjects that are averse to the general public, Paul Blanca knows how to capture the "moment" in an aesthetic and profound way. His photos make the viewer think about what beauty is and therefore continue to intrigue. In the 1990s, Blanca was accused by fellow artist Rob Scholte of the bomb attack in Amsterdam, in which Scholte lost his legs. The allegations were never proven, but galleries dropped Blanca. His later works are more subdued in nature. (RKD, BT)