Basement Arcade is an “artist’s book” fully conceived by the German born American photographer, Rolf Koppel. Here Koppel uses his own invented technique of fusing traditional black and white analogue photographs with photograming to make a lyrical and witty, personal, yet relevant fantastic voyage. By employing everyday household props, simple window light, only his spouse Will and himself as nude models, and ordinary objects for photograms, Basement Arcade becomes a curious remark on photography and perception as much as it is a journey of imaginative scenarios. There is none of the usual trick digital manipulative juxtaposition of realities here as the viewer is compelled to combine the very apparent photograming with the highly sensuous optical imagery to create a new fantastic reality. In other words, Koppel fuses two processes while he purposely also creates a witty gap between them, making the very unusual and intriguing message of Basement Arcade formal, fantastic, and conceptual all at once.

Rolf Koppel, *1937 in Hamburg, Germany. Lives and works in Santa Fe, USA.