Chinese visual artist and photographer, whose works often speak of personal and collective memory, cultural identity, symbols and language. Currently based between Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Shanghai, China.

I am Ryan Koopmans (BA, MFA) a photographer driven by the interdisciplinary practices of geography, art history, and psychology. Born in Amsterdam (1986) I was raised on Vancouver Island Canada, completed my undergraduate education at UBC in Vancouver, and in 2012 received a Masters of Fine Art Photography & Video at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. I am primarily interested in photographing the points of intersection where the natural and manmade converge. I'm drawn to surreal structures in our world's megacities and urban landscapes. Formal aesthetic qualities in their geometry, repetition and saturation help me illustrate the poetry of form in these fantastical locations. Based in Amsterdam, I work on assigned and independent photography projects around the world. I also shoot with commercial clients as well as architects, magazines, and other publications. For my advertising work, visit www.sirencreatives.com where I am the head of photography.

My work can be described as a body of research in which different moments in time and space run together in a field that seems to embody a determination of time to present proof of it’s discrete, unique moments. I create stories that rise around the system of time and space. I’m fascinated by the systems that exist behind the direct surface of the visual world.

Creative Art

The work of Amsterdam based visual artist Martijn Sandberg, constantly explores border areas, such as the tension between text and image, legibility and illegibility, the private and the public domain. “I make Image Messages, image is message is image.” The image hides the message. In the cut paintings „Sorry No Image Yet‟ and „Too Busy To Paint‟ there is a subtle play between the language of the image and the significance of the image, and this gives rise to questions. Here, the lack of image seems to be elevated to an image by the artist. The direct relationship between the image, the material bearing the image and the environment is also expressed in his site-specific works in public space and architecture. As in „If These Walls Could Speak‟ that can be viewed in the lifts at the OBA Public Library Amsterdam, and the artwork „I Will Survive' located at the border of a burial ground in Hardenberg, The Netherlands. In 2010 „My Last Penny‟ by Martijn Sandberg is released as jaarpenning/ art medal 2010, issued by the Vereniging voor Penningkunst/ Dutch Art Medal Society in a multiple edition of 450 pieces.