Pop goes the Echo

Hans Neleman is assembling a pop army. Gathered to the repetition of originals in reverse, they burrow the peripheral echoes of memory and shout in voices muted to the edges of a frame. We witness Frankenstein smiles, reassembled reassemblages pulled from the shelves of doll parts. Paper and glue stitch battalions of silent warriors, moving, marching, machinated and measured. Idled eyes and vacant faces are loyal companions. There’s a strength in their numbers.

Centaur I, monoprint on Arnhem 1618 paper utilizing additive and reductive monotype technique and stencils, 2025, 24.5 x 17.5"

It is everything we see but vaguely recognize, that catchy tune now stuck in our heads because something faintly familiar has triggered our recall. Cutouts to be worn. Masks to hide our features.

An Elusive Echo, mixed media collage, 2025, 16.5 x 13.5"

Even though they are rooted in a process of replication, there is never more than one among them. Each a fluid multiverse, a needled haystack to discover the forest. These voided and misshaped muses are stoic and cubist complete. You cannot destroy an army that is shaped in its own destruction. 

I think the most powerful element of this show is its monochromatic reflection. It’s all inside out, forcing us to become the skin it wears. That’s what this pop does best, take what we see for granted and remind us that it was never really there until we are told to look. And repurpose. And dismiss. And marginalize. 1984 burned books. Hans rips them apart. Have we been censored by this pop army?

No. In fact we are compelled to march with it. Reassemble our reassemblage. We are the eyes. We are the color. We are the missing pieces to give it life beyond the frame. We are his Echoes.

Another fabulous addition to Hans’ incredible oeuvre. A must-see at the venerable Zynka Gallery!

Hans Neleman offers Time Between Echoes at Zynka Gallery, April 24 - June 8, 2025

Slave to the Elegance of Being (Gemini), pure pigment print on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper, 2025, 46 x 24"

Hans Neleman

Neleman (b. 1960) is a Dutch-born interdisciplinary artist based in New Canaan, CT whose practice includes collage, painting, photography, and video. Neleman studied fine arts at Goldsmiths University in London and received a BA from Westminster University and an MA in Studio Art from New York University. He has worked for over 30 years as an internationally celebrated commercial and advertising photographer. He has published three books (Silence, Moko-Maori Tattoo and Night Chicas) and exhibited his works nationally and abroad. His most recent exhibitions include: MoCA, Westport, CT; Jean Jacobs Gallery, New Canaan, CT; the Art Museum at University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, CT; CUSP/NYC Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Anita Rogers Gallery, New York City; Biennale de Lyon France, Lyon, France; and Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.

His work is in many private and public collections including: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon, Lyon, France; the Art Museum at University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, CT; Norwalk Community College Art Collection, Norwalk, CT; and the Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT. Neleman has also been featured in numerous international and national newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, US News and Word Report to name a few. He has been interviewed on WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show and MTV’s Cool People.

His awards include Kodak Photographer of the Year and American Photographer Magazine Photographer of the Year. In 2006 he was awarded the Hasselblad Master title and he is the recipient of the World Image Award for Still Life Photography.