Artist Statement
“Ode to Grant Woods’ American Gothic,” 2016, New Orleans
Photography and acting are kindred spirits in the new series by e2 (Elizabeth Kleinveld and Epaul Julien). Their current photographic project, In Empathy We Trust, presents viewers with re-imagined iconic images from the history of art. The collaborators re-envisioned the work of old master painters, beginning with the Flemish Primitives and spanning nearly 600 years.
With subjects enacting roles with varied representations of race, age, and sexual orientation, e2 “remakes with a twist” works by artists such as van Eyck, Rafael, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Fragonard, and Manet. Inspired by the original paintings, e2 hopes to jar viewers into questioning their own perceptions. They invite viewers to see these images, and indeed to see the world anew, using humor, wit and playfulness. In addition, they hope that viewers will see how stereotypes can lead to prejudice and discrimination.
The collaboration began in 2010, after completing work on the traveling exhibition and book project Before (During) After: Louisiana Photographers Respond to Hurricane Katrina. This natural and man-made disaster brought social inequities in Louisiana into vivid focus. Conversations between Kleinveld and Julien revealed their mutual interest in issues of social justice.
Accompanying e2’s series is its own coat of arms, bringing new meaning to the traditional symbol of the aristocracy. Heralded with pelicans and a fleur-de-lis, the shield reflects the artists’ Louisiana roots. It also features their motto: In Empathy We Trust, which reflects the core values of e2’s work. The artists believe in the power of empathy and images to change perceptions, minds and hearts.
“There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.”
— G.K.Chesterton
Elizabeth Kleinveld
“Ode to Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Loose Hair,” 2018, Amsterdam
Elizabeth Kleinveld is an artist and photographer from New Orleans who takes her inspiration from Paul Outerbridge: “Art is life seen through man’s craving for perfection and beauty.” For her, art is about creative self-expression and storytelling, allowing her to respond to what she observes in the world. While some of her work is about striving to express the beauty she sees, other work focuses on themes she finds politically important. Often she uses art to transform her reality as she did in 2007, while working to come to terms with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Kleinveld later found inspiration from exotic flowers and their reflection in water, which gave the images from her Flower Reflections series an abstract and painterly quality.
Kleinveld’s current work with e2, In Empathy We Trust, arose from conversations with her collaborator, Epaul Julien, about how many things had not changed in the years since the hurricane. The work, which recasts classic paintings with different sitters, challenges the viewer to evaluate why they may feel jarred by e2’s new interpretations.
Her work has been featured in galleries, museums, and private collections in Europe, Asia, and the United States, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Colorado Fine Arts Center, Houston Center for Photography, Museum Palazzo Fortuny in Venice, Royal Delft Museum in Delft (The Netherlands), the United States Embassy in The Hague, and the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Kleinveld is represented, amongst others, by the Italian galleries PH-NEUTRO and Galleria Bongiovanni.
Epaul Julien
“Ode to van Eyck’s Self-Portrait,” 2012, New Orleans
Epaul Julien is an artist from New Orleans who began his career as a fine art photographer in 1995 when a near death experience changed his life. Creating art for him is a necessity, vitally linked to his existence. His method has also been shaped by the extremity of his circumstances. When the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina forced him to abandon his darkroom and bulky photographic equipment, he emerged with a new approach; six months of exile pushed him to use the images he had salvaged and to create a new form of mixed media.
In Empathy We Trust, Julien’s current work with Elizabeth Kleinveld in the photography collective e2, challenges stereotypes by reimagining iconic images across almost six hundred years of art history. Raised forty-five minutes from New Orleans on a family plantation named Africa, Julien was always keenly aware of stereotypes and racial divides. While the Africa Plantation was a spiritual place that put him in touch with nature and stimulated his imagination, and the place where his father taught him to use his first camera, he was also cognizant of its history. “I think growing up in the South makes you super aware of color and race,” says Julien, who uses this awareness “to explore life through a unique perspective.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in e2’s In Empathy We Trust.
Julien’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe in such venues as the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Houston Center for Photography, Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, Photoville in New York City, Museum Palazzo Fortuny in Venice, Verona’s PH-Neutro, the Galleria Bongiovanni in Bologna, and has been featured in such publications as Black and White, the Houston Chronicle, and Before (During) After: Louisiana Photographers’ Visual Reaction to Hurricane Katrina (University of New Orleans Press, 2010).
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Present Tense: E2, Kira Nam Greene, and David Crimson, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
Everything Changes, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2022
In Empathy We Trust, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA
2018
The Changing Face of Portraiture, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2016
Inspired by Dutch Masters: Remaking Iconic Images with a Twist, Dutch Centre, London, UK
2015
Inspired by Dutch Masters, Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In Empathy We Trust, Photo Festival Fuscecchio, IT
In Empathy We Trust, Aker Imaging Gallery, Houston, TX
2014
In Empathy We Trust, City Hall Prospect 3.0 Satellite show, New Orleans, LA
2013
For the Love of Art, Bongiovanni Gallerie d’Arte, Bologna, Italy
For the Love of Empathy, Octavia Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2012
E2’s Kleinveld & Julien, Milan Image Art Fair, Arps Gallery, Milan, Italy
For the Love of Art, PH Neutro Gallery, Verona, Italy
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021
Fresh and Contemporary: Moving Forward,
Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX
2019
Still I Rise, MassMoCA, North Adams, MA
Arte Laguna Prize, Venice, Italy
Art on Paper, New York, NY
ArtMarket San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2018
Art on Paper, New York, NY
ArtMarket San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2017
VOLTA NY, New York, NY
Pulse Miami Beach, Miami, FL
ArtFields, Lake City, SC
2016
Art Hysterical, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Face to Face: A Survey of Contemporary Portraiture by Louisiana Artists, Hilliard Museum, Lafayette, LA
2015
Bologna Art Fair, Boxart Gallery, Bologna, Italy
Summer Exhibition, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands
Art Karlsruhe, de Kunstsalon, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Art Breda, Eduard Planting Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Off-Brussels, a-gallery, Brussels, BE
Portraiture: Expression & Gesture, Photoplace Gallery, VT
2014
Art Verona, Boxart Gallery, Verona, Italy
Royal Academy of Art, Summer Exhibition, London, UK
PAN Amsterdam Art Fair, Eduard Planting Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Prospect 3.0: Benetton Collection of New Orleans artists, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Keep on Dreaming, Galerie SIRIUS, Tokyo, Japan
Amazons of Photography, Palazzo Fortuny Museum, Venice, Italy
2013
Announcing Veronese, Museum Castelvecchio, Art Verona, Verona, Italy
PhotoNOLA’s Currents 2013, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Inventing Reality, A Gallery For Fine Photography, New Orleans, LA
PhotoNOLA, African American Museum Treme, New Orleans, LA
Houston Center for Photography’s 31st Annual Juried Membership
Exhibition, Houston, TX
Tank Drama, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Louisiana Contemporary, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Keep on Dreaming, Photoville, New York, NY
2012
PhotoNOLA’s Currents 2012, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Love, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
The Human Figure, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Selected Press
City of Memory: A Film by Robert Adanto, 2015
Bookhardt, D. Eric. “Review: Art Hysterical at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery." Gambit Weekly, June 13, 2016.
Susie Tommaney. "European Masters Updated With Twists on Race, Age, Gender and Orientation." Houston Press. November 10, 2015.
Daphne van Paassen. "Uitgelicht." Opzij. No. 9, 2015.
"Nightwatch 2.0." Algemeen Dagblad. July 14, 2015.
New Nightwatch with Neelie Kroes. Het Parool. July 13, 2015.
"E2: Ode to Gheeraerts Elizabeth I." Het Parool. November 29, 2014.
“PAN Amsterdam,” Nouveau, Amsterdam, November, 2014.
Pini, Francesca. “Che Cosa sta preparando.” Corriere Della Sera, Sette Magazine. Milan, July 18, 2014.
“Gambit Weekly’s Not to Miss.” WWL TV Morning News. New Orleans, December 20, 2013.
D’Addario, John. “Inventing Reality, Group Show Highlights The Magical And Surreal.” The New Orleans Advocate, December 19, 2013.
Sparks, Ryan. “ Photographers Recast the Main Roles of Classical Masterpieces." Southern Glossy, December 13, 2013.
Bookhardt, D. Eric. “Artist’s Spaces: Close to Home and The Art of Empathy.” Gambit Weekly, December 17, 2013.
“Masterpieces with a Twist at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.” Focus, July 12, 2012.
“Artist Duo e2 at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.” Linda, July 2012.
“A Kiss in Time: Embracing the Best of the World’s Photography.” The Sunday Times, May 6, 2012.
“Masterpieces with a Twist: e2 at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.” de Fotograaf, April 2012.
Selected Publications
In Empathy We Trust, Amsterdam: Princess Books, 2014.
Bookhardt, Eric. D. Inventing Reality: New Orleans Visionary Photography. New Orleans: Luna Press, 2013.
Aarde (Earth) & Liefde (Love) Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, 2013 & 2012.
Permanent Collections
Benetton Collection, Treviso, Italy
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto in Trento, Italy